Gordon Ryan, the biggest current star in Grappling has just announced his retirement from Grappling at the young age of 24. The ‘King’ is currently on vacation, the first he’s taken in 5 years and he’s written a lengthy post on IG explaining his decision. If he’s serious and not trolling, this would be a huge blow to the grappling scene. Ryan had an incredible run in competition, winning the 2017 ADCC, EBI champ, black belt 2x gold at IBJJF No Gi Pans and Worlds, and this year double gold at ADCC, and defeating a who’s who list of BJJ legends in superfights (Palhares, Gonzaga, Oleynik etc…) This had never been done before.
There have been rumors that he would transition to MMA, just like his teammate Garry Tonon.
At age 24, Ryan has won everything there is to win in No Gi grappling so can you blame for retiring at the top?
“Thank you and farewell. Its been years since i did anything besides training. I haven’t taken a vacation in 5 years. On this trip i realized that there’s more to life than being stuck in a blue basement every day killing myself. i have proven im the best over and over again and now its time for a change. Its time to start the next chapter of my life. i have some matches scheduled early in 2020 which ive committed to and will compete in but consider 2019 the last year of my competitive life span. I dont need anything else in life. All i want and need now is to explore the world with the ones i love and help my team mates achieve twice as much as i have as well as help people around the world through instructional videos. i know it will pain a lot of you to see me go but this is something im sure about. i hope all the fans understand and have enjoyed the rise thus far. its not over. I couldnt have asked for a better career. love you all ♥️. 📸 @jeffreyschu. @heysonnyy”
