Gordon Ryan Willing To Lose '20 Years' Of His Life From PEDs To Be BJJ GOAT

12/25/2024 12:00 PM

BJJ star Gordon Ryan wants to "win at all costs," even if it takes decades from his life.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) stars Gordon Ryan and Mikey Musumeci have been taking shots at each other, stemming from issues on steroids and performance enhancing drugs, and it seems like those discussions aren't coming to an end soon.

Ryan has released a near 30 minute video talking about why he thinks using steroids is a "no brainer" for him.

BJJ star Gordon Ryan justifies steroid use

"Number one, because they were legal in jiu-jitsu," Gordon Ryan said about why he's using steroids. "Especially back then in 2016 when I started, there was no organizations in jiu-jitsu that even tested for PEDs. So they were clearly legal. Number two, people don't remember anything other than the fact that you won or lost. No one talks about the fact that Khabib missed weight how many times? Six, seven, eight times? They talk about the fact that Khabib's undefeated.

"The only thing that people care about is whether you won or whether you lost. They don't care if you were injured, they don't care if you were sick, they don't care if you had a good camp, a bad camp. What everyone cares about, when everyone looks back in ten years, is 'did this guy win or did this guy lose?' That combined with the fact that steroids are legal in jiu-jitsu, it kinda made it a no brainer."

It's worth noting that Khabib Nurmagomedov only officially missed weight once, back in 2013. In 2017, he got sick from a weight cut, leading to another Tony Fergusonbout being cancelled, but Khabib definitely didn't miss weight six to eight times.

Gordon Ryan also apparently believes the IBJJF only suddenly started testing for PEDs as a conspiracy to make sure he "doesn't win again."

"The only place they're not legal is in IBJJF, where they started testing after I won worlds. I won the No Gi Worlds and they were like 'yeah, we have to make sure Gordon doesn't win again'. So then they started testing," he said. "I never competed in any event where steroids were illegal, where they said you couldn't take them or we're gonna test for these."

Gordon Ryan wants to 'win at all costs,' even if it takes 20 years from his life

Gordon Ryan says he doesn't care about the dangers of using and abusing steroids. In fact, the decorated ADCC champion says he would gladly trade decades of his life to be the greatest of all time.

"People can make arguments where it's not healthy for you and there are long-term side effects and things like that. I understand that, but at the same time, Michael Jordan quote: I am trying to win at all costs," Ryan stated.

"I'm not going to do things where I'm cheating. I'm not going to grease and things like that, but these aren't illegal. So I'm gonna do everything that I can to be the best athlete that I can be," he said.

"Even if it were to take 20 years off of my life, I wouldn't regret doing the things that I've done to become the greatest of all time in this sport. Because ultimately when I die, my legacy is what's going to be remembered."

While others see it as cheating, Gordon Ryan sees PED use as some noble "sacrifice" for greatness.

"I would rather die with a legacy at 50 years old, than just be a normal guy dying at 70 or 80 years old," he said. "That's not a sacrifice that people are willing to make, and that's why they're not Gordon Ryan."

Gordon Ryan, who is still in his 20s, has already dealt with serioushealth issues through the years. He claims those stomach issues weren't due to abusing PEDs, and only happened because he dealt with "recurring staph infections" and antibiotics that "wiped out my gut biome."

Ryan claims he doesn't need steroids to be the best

Even if he said it was a way to "win at all costs," Gordon Ryan also claims that he doesn't really need steroids to win.

"Do you need steroids to be the best athlete in the world? No, I don't think so. I think that I could have done all this natural, and I could have been the best in the world without steroids," he claimed. "I don't believe that you need steroids to be the best in the world what I do believe is that you need steroids to be the best version of yourself as an athlete.

"That's just a fact. They're performance enhancing drugs. You're always going to be better as an athlete taking steroids that you would be if you weren't."

While many BJJ athletes take some kind of PED even from a young age, Ryan claims he never took any of those substances until after he won the EBI title in 2017 and started bulking up.

"My first introduction to PEDs, steroids, whatever we're gonna call them, was after I had won EBI at 170 (lbs). I cut the weight, did EBI at 170, and then after that I started going up in weight and getting to a higher weight class," he said.

"Your whole argument that 'Gordon wouldn't even be good unless he was on steroids' ... I was submitting ADCC champions and medalists way before I was ever on steroids," Ryan argued.

"While I was natural, these guys were juiced up. Natural, I submitted Yuri (Simoes), Yuri was the reigning ADCC champion at the time... Then I submitted Keenan (Cornelius), I submitted Vagner (Rocha). I submitted all these guys natural, having just gotten my black belt. So I was five years into doing jiu-jitsu, I had just gotten my black belt, I was 20 years old between 180 and 190 lbs, natural. I was submitting all the best guys in the world, and I was a tenth of what I am technically back then."

EBI 11 was in 2017, which would make Gordon Ryan 22 years old and over a year into his career as a black belt. Those wins he mentioned were certainly big at the time, especially against Yuri Simoes, who was coming off his first ADCC medal.

Keenan Cornelius had immense hype as a brown belt, and Vagner Rocha is certainly a top contender with excellent longevity, so those were huge wins for a relatively young black belt trying to make a name for himself. For what it's worth, neither really had a case of ever being the "best in the world" though.

Ryan is incredibly skilled and technical, and he did have an EBI overtime win over Simoes, so perhaps he could've still won without bulking up and using a lot of drugs. It's still worth pointing out though that Ryan's biggest achievements and best wins against world champions all happened after EBI 11.

All seven of Gordon Ryan's ADCC titles, all four IBJJF no gi worlds and pans medals at black belt, and that incredible six year unbeaten streak — it all happened after that date he admits to using a lot of steroids to "win at all costs."

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