There’s been a lot of scrutiny around Gordon Ryan’s pull out from WNO rematch with Felipe Pena. Following a lengthy build up, Ryan had to back out of the event due to a bad bout of stomach flue.
Felipe Pena ended up competing against Nick Rodriguez instead, and edged out a decision victory. He’s since then provided a breakdown of the match and questioned the authenticity of the pull out. Pena told Canal Encarada:
“I don’t know if Gordon wants to compete now. I even challenged him after the match. He had a scheduled trip and everything but I think if he wanted to compete he would cancel this trip. I don’t think it was really the stomach problem. ”
“He may have had something in his stomach, but it wasn’t really the reason for him to have pulled out but let’s see how it will be in the next few weeks how it will unfold, if he will schedule this match or not”
Later on he added:
“Three days before, Gordon sent me a message, being all good. When he sent this message, three days before it was right when he was at the restaurant having dinner, he was even stupid in relation to this.”
“He sent the message, I entered his story, three hours before he was having dinner and one hour before he sent the message, he was on a tatami in a garage. I don’t know if he was training or just following but who jumps out of a match due to a stomach problem as he was saying, that he was sick, that his legs were shaking that he couldn’t climb the stairs…”
“So, my vision is that, not that he was afraid of me, afraid of competing, because I think that we all do this all day, so we are not afraid of fighting someone but I think he was afraid of losing”
Ryan tried to debunk he late pull out
This pull out created a lot of backlash towards Ryan because it made the pull out seem like a calculated move considering the pull out was publicized late. Ryan debunked that he was responsible for the announcement on social media:
“Oh btw everyone. I pulled out on Tuesday, not today, just to be clear. Additionally, everyone is talking about me at a dinner like it’s some big scandal.”
“I had a dinner planned for Nat’s birthday for weeks with many high level people that are friends and people i do business with. Yes, I was sick, and yes, sitting at home for 2 hours on the couch staring at the walls take the same amount of energy as sitting at a dinner table with friends.”
“I was bed ridden for days stuck in the house and my fever finally subsided. Did you expect me to cancel or not go to dinner because it would take more energy than do the same thing at home?”
“How you can go in your mind from “he’s healthy enough to sit at a dinner table for 2 hours with friends” to “Well then he must be healthy enough to grapple for a potential 3 hours” is absolutely the dumbest thing I may have ever heard lol people are complaining i was able to sit at a 2 hour dinner”
“No one mentioned the 6 hours of travel i made from Austin to Cali? Hahahahah… I’ve competed for 5 years, chronically lll, always won. I’ve competed in ADCC 2019 chronically ill, with food poisoning, with a broken hand, 7 months off Icl surgery, and double golded. I’ve had my Icl completely torn in half mid match and and still won. If half these athletes had my stomach they’d have offed themselves 3 years ago, forget about competing. I know my body and to say I’m scared or making excuses, after reading the above facts, shows nothing other than people having a low iq.”
