Elite competitor Nicky Ryan has just announced that he will be undergoing an ACL reconstruction in order to fix longstanding issues. Ryan was one of the top prospects in the sport during his time as a young teenager training under John Danaher and he’s maintained a status as one of the most knowledgeable grapplers in the world ever since. He went on to become one of the four founders of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu and his expertise have been invaluable in developing the academy’s competitors. Despite all of that, he’s struggled to reach his full potential due to knee i juries that have hampered his training over the years.
He first suffered a knee injury in training and had to withdraw from a match in early 2021, although at the time it appeared to only be a temporary problem. He was back to training in no time at all and returned to competition later that same year. He injured that knee again during a match at Road to ADCC and announced that it required surgery, although he elected not to go down that road in the end. Ryan explained in a recent podcast appearance that he’s actually changed his mind now, and will most likely be pursuing surgery pretty soon:
“I mean, probably going to be getting ACL reconstruction soon, so that kind of sucks.”
Nicky Ryan shared that the decision to undergo ACL reconstruction hasn’t come out of nowhere, and the injury actually hindered his preparation for the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational last year:
“It was almost, what, three years with no ACL? And then actually, in the last CJI camp, it just completely ruined my camp. Like I pretty much didn’t train for like the last three weeks because anytime I train, it would just get super sore and I’d be literally limping that night.”
He also explained the extent of how hard training effects him in the days afterward:
“It gets sore and on days where I really like scrap, especially if I’m wrestling, it’ll be buckling when I’m just walking around the house and stuff.”
He’s still in the process of setting up the surgery now, and at the time of the recording he was actually right in the middle of it:
“I got an MRI three years ago when I first tore it, found out it was fully torn and then I just got an MRI done a few days ago actually and then I have the followup appointment with the surgeon next Friday. Probably figure out a surgery schedule.”
The full interview with Nicky Ryan where he reveals his upcoming ACL reconstruction was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of The Simple Man Podcast:
