Gordon Ryan Announces He Will Only Compete at ADCC in 2024.
It appears fans will have to wait longer to see Gordon Ryan compete again, as the top no-gi grappler has stated he will only participate in the ADCC tournament in 2024. This is undoubtedly disappointing for professional grappling enthusiasts, as Ryan has been a dominant figure in the sport for some time. He has achieved an impressive winning streak over several years through standout performances at ADCC 2019 and ADCC 2022.
While ADCC has showcased Ryan’s skills in recent years, it seems ADCC 2024 will be his sole competition this year. Ryan’s career has followed two trajectories. He has been undefeated on the mats but has also dealt with recurring injuries and health issues limiting his participation compared to peers. Injuries have long challenged him, with 2023 being his least active year with only one match.
Ryan recently provided context on the health problems over the past few years and an update on his current condition:
“Stomach update – reminder, this is simply an UPDATE. People follow me for my athletic career and want to know when I’m competing. I’m not here looking for a pat on the back. This is simply an update on my physical health. As many of you know, I’ve struggled with stomach issues since 2018. Originally stemming from repeated courses of antibiotics to treat staph infections, which wiped out my stomach. Well, I was feeling about 85% better, even though on paper, test results were still all out of order. The 4th Pena camp was the hardest I’ve ever pushed my body and as we all know 2 weeks out it quit on me.”
“Then, because my immune system was still so suppressed from my stomach it took 45 days (on antibiotics) to cure a simple strep throat. After that round of meds, I knew something changed, but I thought I made it out ok. Well over the past months, test results and symptoms have shown a relapse. In mid December, I started getting more nauseous and eating less. Symptoms have been pretty bad but we changed the protocol a little and added some things. For those of you who care, diatomaceous earth and itraconazole. The fluconozole (which I weaned off of) ended up not working and I recently got ring worm on my skin, despite being on nystatin (another oral antifungal) suggesting it’s not strong enough.”
“The diatomaceous earth is supposed to disrupt the biofilm to allow new antifungal to work better. We also added a variety of supplements via shots and powders because my body is deficient in all nutrients needed for recovery and general immunity because my stomach doesn’t absorb them properly with food, and all my receptors are closed due to this issue. Also, a HUGE shout out to Dr Rahbar at LA integrative GI. He, along with Ways 2 Well have been the most thorough doctors I’ve ever worked with who didn’t start as my friends. He truly cares and will even call off hours in case of emergency. Anyone with stomach issues should refer to him and any GI doctors who are stuck should ask him for help. He’s incredible. If you end up going either to him or Ways 2 Well, tell ’em I sent you! Danese, Brigham, and Rahbar have all been incredibly knowledgeable and accommodating.”
He announced his decision to only compete at ADCC in a recent Instagram post, explaining his rationale:
