Gordon Ryan recently appeared on Jake Shields’ podcast to discuss various topics in the jiu-jitsu world. One notable segment focused on Ryan’s tense relationship with fellow grappler Mikey Musumeci.
As a reminder, Musumeci questioned the accelerated rate with which Ryan is aging saying:
“Gordon Ryan’s one year older than me, but he looks like he’s 40,” Musumeci remarked to Mighty Mouse. “Are we really just one year apart? How is that possible?”
Ryan explained that Musumeci has been making passive-aggressive comments about st*roid use for some time, implying that those who use PEDs are mentally weak. Ryan found this hypocritical, as Musumeci would often follow up these posts with statements about his own struggles with depression and mental health.
“The only thing I’ve ever done is talk highly of Mikey, and then he was just like—talking about the thing with Mikey. The thing about Mikey is he’ll be like, ‘If you take ster*ids,’ he’s been doing these passive-aggressive shots at me forever. He’ll make one post that’s like, ‘Hey, if you take ster*ids, you’re mentally weak. You need a crutch, and you need an out,’ blah, blah, blah. He’ll talk about how if you use ster*ids, you’re mentally weak, and then his very next post will be like, ‘I’m depressed, I’m sad, and we need to talk about mental health.’ It’s just like, bro, just [ __ ] do your thing and leave everybody else alone.”
The tension seems to have escalated recently when Musumeci directly attacked Ryan online, despite Ryan claiming he had only ever spoken highly of Musumeci in the past. Ryan expressed frustration with Musumeci’s behavior, stating,
“It’s very simple: if you attack me, I’ll attack you. If you see me and you want to fight, let’s fight. I have nothing against any of these people—besides the B team guys, because they’re all backstabbing cockroaches. They actually [ __ ] me over. Mikey’s just like a little rat that talks [ __ ]”
Ryan also criticized Musumeci’s competitive choices, noting that while Musumeci has won multiple world titles, he has never competed in ADCC, which Ryan considers the true test of a grappler’s skills. Ryan suggested that if Musumeci wants to be taken seriously, he needs to compete and win at ADCC.
“ADCC, that’s where all the best guys are. Don’t make an excuse like, ‘Oh, it’s not my weight class.’ You do open weights, you know? After you, I think he’s probably the best Jiu-Jitsu guy, or one of the best, but he doesn’t compete in the same kind of competitions, so it’s hard to give him the same level of respect.”
Of course Musumeci won his world titles at -57.5 kg weight class and ADCC’s lowest weight class for men is 66kg.
Despite the tension, Ryan acknowledged Musumeci’s talent, calling him “definitely one of the most credentialed Americans ever” in jiu-jitsu. However, he maintained that Musumeci’s refusal to compete in ADCC undermines his legacy somewhat.
