Tye Ruotolo wants to face a fully healthy Gordon Ryan

It seems the rivalry between IBJJF world champion and ONE Championship grappler Tye Ruotolo and jiu-jitsu GOAT-contender Gordon 'The King' Ryan is not quite over yet. The two grappling icons had quite the verbal tussle on social media last year, after Ryan won the ADCC Superfight and Tye Ruotolo won bronze in the Absolutes.

At the moment, Ryan, widely known to be the greatest No-Gi submission grappler of all time, is battling some serious health issues that indefinitely put him on the sidelines. The multi-time world champion had a severe case of strep throat after a trip to Abu Dhabi.

After 40 days of antibiotics, the illness mellowed down enough for 'The King' to have tonsillectomy surgery. He recently posted shocking images of himself after the surgery, significantly losing most of his god-like physique in the process:

Tye Ruotolo recently spoke to the South China Morning post and gave his two cents on Ryan's health and whether or not we can still get to see him lock horns with 'the King' someday.

Tye Ruotolo said of Ryan's health:

"I don't know. It's not in my position to speak on the topic. I don't really care about him [Ryan]. I hope he gets better as quickly as possible because I want to fight him. I want to fight him at his best, so that's my goal; it's to take down Gordon. So heal up, it's time to go. Let's go."

The drama between Tye Ruotolo and Gordon Ryan started last year when the young world champion called out 'The King' on social media after they both competed in the 2022 ADCC submission wrestling world championships.

Ruotolo posted on social media:

“Remember that Darce at Modolfo? It would be competitive now and I’m 19 and natural. I guarantee you retire before I gain 15 pounds. Pure facts, no ill intent. Let’s do the same deal you did with Pena. No time limit.”

Ruotolo threw shade at Ryan for being accused of using steroids in the past. The ADCC Superfight world champion, not to be out-trash-talked, deftly replied with:

"How about you put up your 50k win bonus from ONE and I'll put up my same 100k that I did with pena? 2-1 odds no time limit. Just remember, I'm not Josh hinger, and you couldn't beat him."

The social media exchange went on for much longer but the rivalry seemingly fizzled out shortly after. Since the budding rivalry was abruptly put on ice, Ruotolo went back to competing. He recently won bronze at the 2023 IBJJF world championships and beat ONE middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder at ONE Fight Night 10 last month.

With this new development in his health and career, it's quite unclear if Gordon Ryan will ever be able to revisit any rivalry any time soon. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next.