Gordon Ryan is officially out of the much-anticipated match against Felipe Pena at Tezos WNO, because his tummy hurts. Gordon messaged Felipe the news and provided a detailed statement to FloGrappling explaining the reasons for the pull-out. We’ll post it at the bottom of this article because we know that no one really wants to read what Gordon writes.
Nicky Rodriguez has stepped in and accepted the match without hesitation. The B-team co-founder is coming off a fresh blood test thanks to Gordon and has taken the match with just three days’ notice.
Felipe Pena was not too happy with Ryan’s reasons, however, he accepted the new opponent in stride. Felipe posted a picture of Ryan’s message to him about pulling out of the fight along with a picture of Ryan at dinner from just a day before. He accompanied the photos with some strong words.
I fought our last fight the day one of my best friends died to save the event with the condition that Saturday’s fight would happen. Nobody who has a stomach problem to the point of not doing such an important fight goes out to dinner with friends and after is training in a garage?! Interesting that the problem is only to fight so… You coward
Felipe Pena’s Instagram
This is not the first time Nick Rodriguez and Felipe will have faced each other. The two clashed in the semifinal at ADCC 2022. Rodriguez beat Pena via points, taking the silver medal in the +99kg division. He went on to lose to Gordon in the finals.
Fans may not be happy with the late change, but we are still getting a solid card and a great main event. Pena changed his life up for the match, even moving his camp to Atos in San Diego. He may not get his chance at Gordon, but props to him for taking another opponent on such short notice.
Gordon Ryan’s Full Statement on the withdrawal:
This is one of the tougher decisions I’ve ever had to make, but it’s the right one. Not really sure where to start, so I’ll start by saying that I can’t compete on Saturday. As much as I want to even the score, my body is giving me some issues. Last Wed, after hard rounds for my peak, I got home and developed severe body aches and a migrain. I slept almost straight from Wed afternoon until Friday night, running a 100-102.5 fever while not being able to eat anything and sweating with the chills. Saturday, my body came back online and I was able to do regular, low intensity things like a normal person and wasn’t bed ridden anymore. My fever subsided but I still had a fuzzy head, headache, and body aches. I also started having severe diarrhea on Saturday but figured since my fever was gone I was getting better. Wed-sat I couldn’t train and when I did a light round Sunday I was in terrible shape again on Monday. Monday I did a light session in LA and was in terrible shape again on Tues. On top of this, I spent the whole week not being able to eat and the last 5 days with severe diarrhea every 30 minutes. I did literally everything I could to be there for this match. I even scheduled a before hours appointment with my stomach doctor to see if there’s anything he could do to help, but he said it was almost certainly viral and would just have to run it’s course. I’ve also been taking 1 IV bag a day for the last 4 days to try to keep up with the loss of fluids but I’m still so severely dehydrated now that my legs are cramping from walking up a flight of stairs. This issue (unrelated to my chronic stomach issues) has completely drained my body over the last week and I’ve lost roughly 15 lbs. I did everything I could to get there but ultimately john and I decided that the professional thing to do was call it and give pena and the team time to figure out next steps. I have messaged pena directly to relay this as well as my apologies. I know how much time he put into this and I fully expected to have the best pena ever out there to compete against and giving him (or anyone) this version of me isnt an option. It’s very frustrating because this was a very good camp. There were some speed bumps along the way but I was technically far better than ever. I have some things I’ve been working on and they all came together perfectly through the camp. I was also in the best physical condition I’ve ever been in as well, so to do this hard 8 weeks and feel better than ever and then having this happen is rough, to say the least. Of course, to the fans as well, I am very sorry. I will still be at the event to see everyone and say hello, take pictures, ect. I made the mistake of facing pena sick in our 1st match and I swore to never do that again. I have competed (2019 ADCC) with food poisoning (and a broken hand) that I came down with the day before hand but this one has been eating at me for a week and I simply have nothing left for a hard match at the moment. Michael Jordan had the luxury of being able to have a bad game without being too harshly criticized In a team sport. I unfortunately do not have that luxury. While this was a very tough decision, it was the correct one. I hate to be this guy and I am beside myself even having to write this, but sometimes it just is what it is. I will keep everyone updated here on what’s next. Sorry again
-Gordon Ryan
You can tune into WNO: Gordon Ryan vs. Felipe Pena II on Saturday, February 25.
The broadcast will begin at 9:00 PM EST.
The preliminary card will be available for free on FloGrappling’s YouTube channel.
The main card will air on FloGrappling (subscription required).