Grappling sensation Gordon Ryan retires: “I’m essentially useless”

Gordon Ryan, the 25 year old grappling sensation has officially announced his retirement from competition in a statement released on his Instagram account.

This means Ryan’s scheduled openweight grappling contest with Shinya Aoki at ONE Championship will be cancelled. The surprise retirement also means fans wont get to see the grappling prodigy’s long teased transition into mixed martial arts’. You can read the full retirement announcement below.

“It saddens me to make this post. My stomach isn’t cooperating with me anymore, most of you by now know it’s been an uphill battle for 3 years ever since the staph antibiotics messed up my stomach. Effective immediately, I will be taking a leave of absence from competition. My stomach is at a point now where I can’t train properly. It was always an issue, but it’s been progressively getting worse as time goes on.”

“In training, I’m essentially useless because I’m always so nauseous,” he continued. “While I have been showing up on competition day, I don’t believe it’s professional for me to have camps like I have been and showing up to compete. The future for myself as an athlete is uncertain, but the future as a coach is definite. I was supposed to compete once a month until October, I’ve pulled out of all of them and don’t plan on making a return until my stomach is 100% better, if it ever is.”

Gordon Ryan retires after an illustrious grappling career. Seeing the 25 year old boast a phenomenal professional record of 144–9–3. In addition to being a three time ADCC World Champion, three time World BJJ no-gi Champion and also a three time winner of the Eddie Bravo Invitational.

What’s your favourite moment from Gordon Ryan’s career?