UFC featherweight Ryan Hall has expressed concerns about what he perceives as “junk in the system” within the modern BJJ landscape.
“I think one of the really important things that we should consider about jiu-jitsu is that there’s a lot of junk in the system right now,” Hall stated. “Jiu-jitsu has exploded in terms of the number of positions, techniques, strategies, rule sets. That’s really cool on the one hand, on the other hand there’s probably a just metric sh*t ton of suboptimal things that are out there that are being taught.”
Hall, who is known for his technical approach to grappling and MMA, didn’t spare himself from criticism.
“I myself included, I’ve taught things that looking back five years, three years, two years, one year, I’m like ‘Oh I would not do it like that anymore,'” he admitted. “Straight up sometimes I wouldn’t do it like that. Other times I would literally never do even that particular [technique].”
This reflection on BJJ comes as Hall prepares for a potential return to competition in 2024 after an extended absence due to a remarkable series of medical setbacks. Since his last UFC appearance against Ilia Topuria in December 2021, Hall has undergone 19 surgeries under general anesthesia.
“I’ve had 19 general anesthesia surgeries since that fight,” Hall revealed in a recent interview.
His ordeal began with a torn ACL and escalated from there.
“[I] got fallen on, tore my ACL, had to fix [the] plantar plate that was torn under my foot. [I] got fallen on again, had to have a tight rope surgery, the one like Pat Mahomes [had].”
Complications followed when
“the ACL got infected and had to have a couple emergency septic arthritis [procedures].”
Hall also discovered he
“was actually allergic to the hardware that they put in me somehow, so it had to be redone.”
Despite these challenges, Hall remains optimistic about returning to competition. He’s currently focusing on rehabilitating his shoulder over the next couple of months before meaningfully resuming training, with a potential return targeted for March or April 2024.
Interestingly, Hall is considering dropping down to the bantamweight division for his comeback.
“I can’t be sure if I’m going to fight at 135 or 145 pounds, but it’ll be one or the other,” he explained. “I’ve always been a 135-pound fighter who fought at 45 and 55. I just never knew if people would accept fights, so I didn’t want to hang around at the lower weight all the time.”
His comments on the state of jiu-jitsu reflect a broader concern about quality control in a rapidly expanding martial art—one that continues to evolve at a pace that sometimes outstrips critical assessment of techniques and approaches.
