What happened to Gordon Ryan? BJJ star's illness robs him of his god-like physique

Gordon Ryan is a monumental name in the jiu-jitsu industry, and is considered to be the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu grappler across the globe. He secured the ADCC Championship five times and his net worth is estimated to be approximately $50 Million.

Recently, the fighter was hospitalized with what was intiskkt reported to be a case of strep throat following his Abu Dhabi trip. He was in the hospital for a significant amount of time with several rounds of antibiotics. Unfortunately, the infection didn’t succumb to the medicines, and his throat did not get better.

After almost 40 days of being in treatment, the infection mellowed and Gordon Ryan went for a tonsillectomy surgery. He took to social media to explain his condition and why he could not go into training at all.

“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.”

Of course, when one goes through a major period of antibiotics without any intense activity, the body composition changes. For athletes such as Gordon Ryan, whose physique is primarily muscles with very less body fat percentage, they lose their muscles and weight.

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Gordon Ryan opened up about the change in his physique

Gordon Ryan (Image via Instagram: @gordonlovesjiujitsu)

The MMA star took to social media to reveal that after being on antibiotics for 40 days, his bodyweight came down to 201 lbs. The last time he was this weight was back when he was 21-years old.

The multiple ADCC champion has lost significant muscles from his arms and chest, and his abdominal muscles have stopped showing as they used to before. Unfortunately for Ryan, he cannot start lifting weights for at least another three weeks and jiu-jitsu training will resume after two more months.

It’s likely Ryan will shrink further during this waiting period, but he has decided to use this time in preparing his students and other athletes for upcoming matches.

It’s well-known that Gordon Ryan’s multiple revenue sources include his BJJ instructionals. He releases his own set of instructional videos in bundles and earns massively through those. In fact, it’s one of his biggest revenue sources.