Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu icon Gordon Ryan has ignited a firestorm across social media with his observations about PED use in mixed martial arts. The grappling superstar’s unfiltered comments, originally shared in a video, have been making rounds online as fans and analysts dissect his controversial take on how financial inequality shapes doping practices in professional combat sports.
Ryan’s central argument revolves around a stark economic reality that many prefer to ignore. According to the BJJ phenom, entry-level UFC competitors face an impossible dilemma when it comes to performance enhancement. These athletes, who typically earn modest purses, simply lack the financial means to engage in sophisticated doping programs.
“When you have testing, especially in a sport like MMA, for example, where the lowest level guys aren’t really paid that much money,” Ryan explained in the viral clip. “So you have a guy who just gets to the UFC and he’s making $10,000 and $10,000, right? Or $12,000 and $12,000… $12,000 to show, $12,000 to win, $24,000 bucks.”
The 30-year-old athlete went on to detail the extensive financial burden these newcomers face. “You have to go through a whole camp. You got to pay for all the expenses. You got to bring in training partners. You got to pay for your coaches. You got to fly the coaches out sometimes. There’s a lot of expenses that go into this.”
Ryan argues that this economic pressure creates an unintended consequence of anti-d*ping protocols. “Those guys, if there’s st**oid testing, those guys won’t have the resources or the money to hire the doctors necessary to beat the tests. So those guys are natural,” he stated matter-of-factly.
The contrast with established, high-earning athletes couldn’t be more stark in Ryan’s assessment. “The guys at the top who are making millions of dollars, those guys will always have the… or part of the big teams will always have the resources and money available to them to hire the doctors to help them beat the tests.”
“And the whole purpose of ste**id testing… so that you don’t have natural athletes competing against unnatural athletes. But you get that anyways, because the guys at the bottom can’t afford to, or don’t have the resources to beat the tests and the guys at the top do have the resources.”
The result, according to Ryan, is a system that achieves the opposite of its intended purpose. “So then you just end up with guys who are naturally competing against guys who are juiced up anyways.”
The video caught the attention of prominent MMA analyst Luke Thomas, who amplified the discussion by sharing the clip on social media platform X. Thomas validated Ryan’s perspective with a pointed commentary about existing research on the topic.
“This specific phenomenon where rich, entrenched athletes use their resource advantages to avoid banned su**tance detection while younger, poorer athletes cannot is well documented in anti-d*ping research,” Thomas wrote, lending credibility to Ryan’s assertions.
Social media reactions have ranged from calls for separate tested and untested divisions to skepticism about the prevalence of PED use at the sport’s highest levels.
Former UFC competitor Chael Sonnen’s previous statements about PED use have also been referenced in discussions surrounding Ryan’s comments. Sonnen, who has openly discussed his own past use of PEDs, has suggested that insecurity rather than pure competitive advantage often drives athletes toward these choices.
