Gordon Ryan has gone through a lot of issues over the past couple of years. ADCC victor has a long history of crippling stomach issues stretching back to 2021 when he initially retired.
Ryan would soon go on Joe Rogan’s podcast and detail his extensive medical issues. In a subsequent instagram post he revealed the extent of his medical issues and apologized for sidelining events.
Ryan believed stomach issues were caused by staph antibiotics.
His stomach problems have been progressively getting worse over time, making him unable to train properly and always nauseous during training. He believed it is unprofessional to compete at less than 100% and consider it a disservice to himself, the team, the opponents, and the sport. He withdrew from all upcoming competitions and did not plan on returning until their stomach is fully recovered, if it ever does.
As for treatment. In a follow up post he revealed he tried holistic treatment but had limited results with it. Ultimately, ADCC promoter Mo Jassim directed Ryan to a gastric specialist out of LA who was subsequently able to provide some help.
Ryan was then suffering from a yeast overgrowth in a part of his intestine, which was causing all kinds of issues.
With the medical help he was able to return. However even then he outlined that he was only about “70%” back from the issues and was continuing to go through it all.
Now Ryan provided a concerning update and detailed he’s once again taking a break from active competition:
“Hi everyone- quick update for everyone who has been asking. I’m not sure when I’ll be competing again. When I got back from my Abu Dhabi trip I came down with a severe case of strep throat which ended with me in the hospital because my throat swelled shut. ”
“Doctors also couldn’t figure out how to cure it since no one ever fails penicillin for a strep infection. In all, I did 7 days of amoxicillin and within a day my throat was back to square one. Then, I did 10 days of penicillin and within 2 days off I was in the hospital with my throat swollen shut. In the hospital, they gave me a shot of penicillin and another 10 days of penicillin, which i failed. ”
“Then I switched to 14 days of clindamycin, which worked. So all in I was on over 40 days of antibiotics straight plus a shot of penicillin. During this time I was contagious and everyone were in big camps so I couldn’t even go to training in fear I would infect them as well. In addition, my ears were in so much pain from my throat that I couldn’t elevate my heart rate at all without having them want to explode and getting a pounding headache.”
“So I’ve been completely inactive for a longer time than I ever have since I started training. As expected, my stomach has relapsed pretty bad and my nausea and lack of appetite have re-appeared, so I’ll need to deal with that, but first I’m headed into surgery today for a tonsillectomy and to fix my severely deviated septum. Just wanted to update everyone on what my competition schedule looks like. I’m hoping to be back in the next few months ”
Previously there were rumblings about Pena facing Ryan this summer. This puts an end to the speculations and it’s likely Pena will be moving on to MMA sooner rather than alter. For now, he has a BJJ match scheduled under the UFC banner against Craig Jones.
