BJJ star Tye Ruotolo, who tried to get match ups with Gordon Ryan in the past, reacted to the news of his retirement. Ryan spent years on the sidelines before officially retiring at age 30, and Ruotolo attributed that early exit to steroid abuse.

“(Gordon Ryan) did a lot of great things for sure. A lot of people can complain and say he was on steroids. The reality is in jiu-jitsu, the majority of these high level athletes are on steroids,” Ruotolo told MMA Fighting. “It’s hard to say ‘but he was on steroids.’ He still did all those great things while those other guys were on steroids.

“It’s a little salty from my point of view because (steroids) affects your longevity, too. I feel like he’d have a lot more years in the sport if maybe had he kept a cleaner lifestyle,” he said. “I don’t know what his lifestyle is, I can’t speak on it too much. I just know that steroids are not good for longevity for sure. That’s just a proven fact.”

Tye, now 23, has been winning BJJ titles along with his twin brother Kade Ruotolo since they were kids. Both have been vocal against the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs (PED) in the sport, and noted how they were offered steroids as teenage competitors.

“I hate to see it with the kids more than anything,” Ruotolo said. “Even for me, my exposure to people wanting to give me steroids from such a young age in the sport of jiu-jitsu was really unbelievable. It’s something I really couldn’t believe.

“It’s not something that I want the younger generation to feel they need to do what he did. A part of me has a little bit of saltiness in that manner but all the best to him and his life. Hopefully he can come back and get healthy so I can get a crack at him one day.”

He did achieve that legacy he wanted, as Ryan is arguably the most decorated no gi grappler of all time. He has a whopping seven ADCC titles (six, if you don’t count the medal ADCC created for him to beat the record), three IBJJF no gi world titles, and more belts with orgs like WNO and EBI.

Tye Ruotolo recently went 9-0 in BJJ matches with ONE Championship, defending his title against MMA Mania’s Best Breakthrough Grappler in Pawel Jaworski. He also played to the crowd and landed this pro-wrestling style spear in the match.

FOR THE LATEST BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU (BJJ) AND GRAPPLING-RELATED NEWS CLICK HERE. FOR ADDITIONAL GRAPPLING CONTENT, FOLLOW @BJJBEAT ON INSTAGRAM.