Gordon Ryan wrote on his Facebook Profile:

Before I begin, I’ll explain something.

It is my belief that a man living in New Jersey/New York/California, or any other high tax state can live comfortably on 200k dollars a year. When I say comfortably I don’t mean extravagantly.

Right now I’m paying $5k a month for my rent and I’ve paid 5k a month in NJ for my mortgage. It is high, but not that crazy high. That includes all my bills. One car payment, food, insurance, utilities, etc. That puts me at about 150k dollars a year in bills just to live, giving me around $50k for fun money.

The other money I’m using to pay taxes and invest. If I want a nice watch or some designer stuff, or a new car, etc. I can buy one or 2 of those every year. Comfortable, but not extravagant.

Keep in mind that I am BY FAR the highest-paid athlete in the sport, and IF I competed in all the events I was supposed to by year-end, this would have been the 1st year in my grappling career that I would have made around 200k from competitions ONLY.

When you think about that for a second it seems insane, and that’s competing almost once a month.

Hopefully, in the future, this will change, but before you put all your eggs in one basket (competition), think about if this is what you really want to do.

Young athletes! Competition is a great way to BUILD YOUR BRAND, but because grappling is a participant sport where most who watch are those who participate, most of your income will be from teaching. Use competition to build a brand, and use TEACHING to make money.

Being a good teacher is FAR harder than being a good competitor. Being good at jiu-jitsu and being good at winning competitions aren’t always synonymous. There’s so much more that goes into this, but IG limits caption sizes.

Just a little word of advice for those who are trying to make it.

Gordon Ryan Leaves Competitive Grappling Due To Health Issues

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