Gordon Ryan announced his retirement due to continued health issues that stopped the multi-time grappling champion from competing since 2024.
On paper, Ryan is one of the most accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners of all-time with a laundry list of titles and wins over some of the best grapplers in history. But Ryan’s legacy is also complicated because he openly admitted using steroids during his career and often justified that decision by pointing out that the sport of grappling doesn’t have drug testing so technically he was never breaking any rules.
That led to conflict with some of the sport’s biggest stars, including UFC BJJ champion Mikey Musumeci as well as twin brothers Kade and Tye Ruotolo, who have often spoken out against rampant steroid abuse in grappling. That’s why it’s difficult for Tye Ruotolo to quantify exactly how Ryan is going to be remembered by the jiu-jitsu community, because it’s more complicated than just looking at his record and potentially calling him the GOAT of grappling.
“I guess my response to that is everyone’s going to have their own perspective on Gordon,” Ruotolo told MMA Fighting. “He did a lot of great things for sure. A lot of people can complain and say he was on steroids. The reality is in jiu-jitsu, the majority of these high level athletes are on steroids.
“It’s hard to say ‘but he was on steroids.’ He still did all those great things while those other guys were on steroids. I don’t have all hate for that.”
That said, Ruotolo and his brother Kade have always chosen to avoid performance-enhancing drugs during their own careers and both have won a multitude of championships over the years.
Ruotolo, who is set to defend his ONE Championship welterweight submission grappling title against Pawel Jaworski at ONE Fight Night 41 on March 13, admits it stings a little bit that some athletes are cutting corners and gaining an advantage by abusing steroids and other drugs and then facing opponents who are completely clean.
He knows for a fact that’s happened to him during his career so Ruotolo has a tougher time looking at Gordon’s record and accomplishments without also noting his performance enhancing drug use.
Ruotolo also knows that trickles down to the next generation of athletes coming up in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which might be the worst part about Gordon’s influence on the sport.
“For my perspective, it’s a little salty because I’ve had to take a rough route in the sense where I’ve had to fight these guys on steroids,” Ruotolo said. “Giving up weight, giving up everything that comes along with taking all the [performance enhancing drugs] and everything.
“It’s a little salty from my point of view because it affects your longevity, too. I feel like he’d have a lot more years in the sport if maybe had he kept a cleaner lifestyle. I don’t know what his lifestyle is, I can’t speak on it too much. I just know that steroids are not good for longevity for sure. That’s just a proven fact. I hate to see it with the kids more than anything. I just think it’s not the best example for the next generation.”
At just 23 years old, Ruotolo says he was approached more than once by people offering him steroids and other drugs that would have potentially given him an advantage in his grappling matches but he was never interested.
He’s not necessarily placing judgment on Ryan or anybody else who chose to use drugs, but he can’t just ignore the reality of the situation.
“Even for me, my exposure to people wanting to give me steroids from such a young age in the sport of jiu-jitsu was really unbelievable,” Ruotolo said. “It’s something I really couldn’t believe.
“It’s not something that I want the younger generation to feel they need to do what he did. A part of me has a little bit of saltiness in that manner but all the best to him and his life. Hopefully he can come back and get healthy so I can get a crack at him one day.”
Of course, Ryan has continuously defended his decision to use steroids and he’s engaged in a war of words with plenty of people who criticized him.
Ruotolo can’t help but wonder if maybe Ryan and anybody else using steroids doesn’t just live under the assumption that everybody is using drugs so they actually are competing on an even playing field.
“I think maybe it makes more sense in those guys’ heads because they say ‘everybody’s on steroids,’” Ruotolo said. “The reality is everybody’s not. A lot of people are.
“That’s why I think it would be cool if there were two different organizations. One clean and one dirty. So it’s like ‘Gordon, you can go kill it in the dirty organization, and the clean guys can have a clean organization.’ It’s not really realistic with funding and everything, but if that was a possibility, I think it would change the sport a lot. It would change a lot for sure.”
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