It is widely believed that many of the top names in grappling and BJJ use performance-enhancing drugs.
Danaher Death Squad star Gordon ‘King’ Ryan is one of the best grapplers in the world, and recently won the 2017 ADDCs in the -88KG division. Some fans perceived a transformation of his body in the past year that is impossible without drugs.
November 8, 2016:
September 3, 2017:
In fact, the images show a ridiculous degree of dieting, a ridiculous degree of hard work, and a post lift pump, not necessarily a ridiculous amount of PEDs. Ryan credits the physique to training with his friend IFBB pro and BJJ standout Nathalia Santoro, who is, scientifically speaking, just ridiculously hot.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYt4yMNFhIghttps://www.instagram.com/p/BZV8X_9lJAx
It’s good to be King.
In a recent interview, Gordon agreed that PED use is common in grappling, and denied that he does.
Everyone at the highest levels for the most part is on something you know,” said Ryan to FloGrappling, as transcribed by Iva Djokovic for BJJEE. “Like our team is pretty much the only people who I think don’t use steroids, to a certain degree.
Basically, when I first started lifting my body wanted to get really stiff … my body wanted to get stiff so I just started like aggressively stretching more than usual.
Most of the people talking are never gonna compete at the highest level of anything and I’ve accomplished more than most people talking s*** anyway so it doesn’t really matter to me.”
