Gordon Ryan, a famous grappler, spoke out in support of PEDs in sports after Mikey Musumeci shared his thoughts. Ryan, one of the best no-gi grapplers, often shares strong opinions that get people talking.
Before Jon Jones returned to the UFC in November, Ryan joined his training team to help with grappling. Earlier this year, Ryan competed at ADCC, won both matches, and became champion again.
Powerful Triangle Choke From The Back with the King Gordon Ryan pic.twitter.com/DmTBC2v1EF
— Bernardo Faria (@BernardoFariaJJ) December 1, 2024
Gordon Ryan Speaks Out in Favor of PEDs for Combat Athletes
Gordon Ryan, 29 years old, has always been open about using steroids, which has sparked a lot of debates in the martial arts community.
One of the athletes who recently spoke out about Ryan’s steroid use is Mikey Musumeci, a UFC-exclusive grappler who is 28 years old. Musumeci blamed Ryan for helping make performance-enhancing drugs more accepted in the sport, which led to Ryan sharing his thoughts in a heated response.
Ryan attended UFC 310 last Saturday and took part in a media session, even though he isn’t officially part of the UFC roster.
“I’m pretty indifferent as to PEDs one way or the other. If a tournament wants to have them, great. If they don’t wanna have them, great,” Ryan explained.
“Now I think, obviously, the matches will be better (with them). I think the athletes will be better athletes. The athletes will definitely be able to get paid more because the better you perform, the better you look.
“The reason people watch professional sports is to see the absolute best athletes in the world do what they do. And when you take performance enhancers, it makes you a better athlete,” Ryan added.
In MMA, using PEDs is against the rules, and Ryan’s teammate, Jon Jones, understands this very well because he got caught in 2016 and 2017 for failing drug tests.
“I just think across the board, if people wanna see the best athletes, the best athletes are the people on PEDs,” he continued.
Mikey overrated? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/cgTPFpiWwe
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) December 6, 2024
Ryan believes that using PEDs can help athletes stay in the sport longer. He also feels it’s unfair because top athletes have the resources to pass drug tests, but new fighters can’t afford to do the same, making the playing field uneven.
“All that PED testing really does, in my opinion, is it makes it so that the people with good teams and doctors can afford to beat the tests, and then the guys who are up-and-coming, who are at some obscure gym in Kentucky who were trying to work their way up, those guys can’t afford to beat the test, and they have to compete natural.
“So all you are doing is making it so the guys on top can still afford to beat the test, and the guys on bottom can’t afford to beat the test. So then you have natural guys competing against juice guys,” he continued.
Ryan thinks that using PEDs can help athletes keep fighting for a longer time, but this doesn’t really match up with his own struggles. He’s been hurt a lot, with problems in his knee and stomach, so he’s taking a break until 2025 to recover.
“I’m just trying to rehab my knee right now because I had an ACL and PCL sprain. And then a grade 2 LCL tear in the first (ADCC superfight) match with Pena,” he finished.
