Nicky, I've torn my meniscus and acl. If you delay the acl reconstruction, all the knocking of your bones in your knee joint will wear away your cartilage...and the end result is severe osteoarthritis where you can't do any running, twisting, turning or impact movements. You'll only be able to cycle or swim. I know because this happened to me. Not getting the acl reconstruction now allows you to compete without having any time off, however, it guarantees you severe wear and tear which leads to osteoarthritis later on. there is life after bjj and you'll want to be active with your friends and kids in 10 years and after.

Nicky is an absolute warrior for having such emotionally and physically painful injuries and not only training through them and fighting with them, but having the courage to stare the truth down and accept it and look on the bright side. Peace brother and youve got the heart of a champion

Stress fracture on the femur and ACL tear and competed at ADCC. You're made of something different Nicky, good luck in your recovery, we're all rooting for you bud!

Nicky Ryan I’ve had three major knee surgeries only one was from a Jiu jitsu injury. I found a guy online named Ben Patrick(knees over toes guy). Doing some of his program exercises has helped me immensely. It’s worth a look for you and good luck I’m 55 and my knees are great now.

hello, I'm an ex-pro skier. In ski, there are lots of ACL injuries as well. A very good friend (and now top 30 in the world) blown his ACL and tried to go without it for a while. Eventually, (even if he was extremely strong) his knee wasn't stable and got the operation done a year later. Think of the ACL as a pillar of a house. If you remove it and make the other pillars stronger, the house might be ok for a while, but has a deep structural problem that eventually will cause problems.

I had a complete tear of my ACL decided not to get surgery despite everyone’s advice. Glad I did not knee was stable. Now back competing BJJ full blast. I think the key is rest and not to go back to you soon.

Such a nice person. I wish him nothing but the best and I hope he returns winning and well!

I had the exact same injury. used knees over toes guys advice. took me a year and a half to get back to 99 percent but I never ended up needing the surgery or had to stop training. backwards hill walks were huge for my rehab

What a humble and persevering young man. Routing for your every success Nicky. Your work ethic is commendable and no matter what you set your sites on, you'll be top tier. Big respect for ya.

Getting so many injuries as such a young age really sucks.

Such a lovely guy and damn talented, too. Best of luck with the recovery, Nicky. Please keep posting little tutorials here - they are much appreciated.

I played football in high school. One other teammate and I both tore our ACL’s our senior season. He played LB, I was OL, he played out the rest of the season on the torn ACL. it was pretty crazy. Took about a year (post surgery) for me to get back to anything athletic. Both got surgery. Both of us played in college. Injuries are just a setback, never let it slow you down too much. Great to see Nicky out there continuing to work and learn.

Nicky is a true gentleman and an awesome BJJ competitor! Quick recover!

Best of luck Nicky! I've been ACL deficent for 3 years and i've managed to compete and train without it. I hope you have a similar result 😀

Get the surgery. Get stem cell therapy. Focus everything into rehabilitation. That's as good as it gets for damaged goods. Your quality of life should take some precedence over circumstance and your ability to perform. There's no short cuts in this. It will take a lot of time and effort to adjust to an injury.

Look forward to watching the comeback! Inspiring all of us going through knee problems

Looking forward to seeing you compete, champ!

I really hope you recover. You’re an amazing talent

you will properbly not read this Nicky, but all the love to you!! i wandered that something was wrong at ADCC... so happy that your not giving up and we are all lookin much forward to see you do very well in the future!

Good luck with the recovery! One hell of a competitor. Definitely use the opportunity to make your knees as strong as possible. My knees have never been stronger since using the Knees over toes guy stuff, but find something that works form you and put it behind you.

I went 8 months without an acl. Every time my knee gave out, it compromised my meniscus as well more and more. Definitely should get the surgery to save your meniscus

Damn Nicky you gave me motivation man. Tore my ACL 3 months ago. Shit sucks ass man, but seeing other people work without it motivates me.

Nicky: Has a history of major injury and rushing back too fast. Also Nicky: "I've started training on a torn ACL without starting PT yet"

Damn Nicky, hope you have a speedy recovery.

Who even needs ligament?

Fair play Nicky, will miss seeing you fighting on the big stage. If you have anymore sparring footage you could post of yourself to sustain us until you’re back to normal that would be great 😊

i love how aware he is. i've always thought hes been subpar in his competition level from what he could be based on what everyone, including gordon has said about training with him. I look forward to seeing what heights he can hit if he starts competing regularly

Yo Nicky! i been competing and training without an acl for 6 years, Back then it tore i didnt know and i didnt have a MR before my meniscus needed surgery and there called me and said ''you dont have an acl either''. I was in the same spot as you and i choose to not get surgery. I am very happy with it and i can do everything and i stil compete and doing pretty well. :) If i can help you in any way let me know :).

Man I hope Nicky's knee will get better so he can start kicking ass again I'm rooting for ya Nick get better bro

Feel better Nicky!

I’m praying for you champ , Ask the lord to heal you anything is possible with faith Ave Maria from Australia

Nicky man I'm sorry u gotta go through this bullshit man, but your mindset is strong you will prevail

Nicky, I rolled with ya in NY the day I got my Black Belt from Renzo. Please look up the Wim Hof Method. It will help tremendously healing any serious injury.

the switching up the gear part sounds good

Thanks for sharing Nikki ryan, stem cell treatment , and putting your body through ketosis will definitely stop the inflammation and with the stem cells you should be good within 3 to 6 months that is the way in my opinion to go, instead of surgery but again that's just my opinion though. 🤝🏻 All the best to you Nikki Ryan you're a great role model example that's why we follow you, much respect from the Monterey California area 🌊🤝🏻

Brother if you want to be 100% and want to lower your risk of arthritis, get the surgery! I had 100% recovery, full range of motion after my cadaver graft.🤙 It's all about the long game.

active nicky ryan?! this is gonna rule

Hope you recover quickly.

A poem, by Nicky Ryan: Exactly one week before ADCC I hurt my left knee

I'm an ACL coper on left and reconstructed on my right 2x never fought on your level. But constant strengthening of both quads and hams makes rolling easier. Make sure to really do that PT and stretch try to be very limper it will help overall

I’m really rooting for Nicky. If the stories are true about how much of a savage he is in the training room then it would be great to see it translate in competition.

Get the surgery man. Spencer Lee is a beast, but you only get so many years of eligibility in NCAA. He had to get the operations. I’ve been grappling for 31 years and I can tell you bro that you’ve got to listen to your body. My body is absolutely wrecked at 43 years old. I pushed through a lot of stuff for competition and it will catch up to you

No need to listen - but having torn my ACL 3 times in my right knee, I'd suggest surgery. You're still so young and will have time to recover. Considering you're a pro, you will be able to bounce back (I would think) rather quickly. I'm 10 years out from surgery and even though I still have some pain every so often, I am surprised with the athleticism, speed, and ability I still have (I'm not a pro-athlete lol). Good luck with recovery, look forward to seeing you compete in the future

Had torn my ACL twice. When fully torn it doesn't hurt as badly compared to partially tearing (where the nerves are still intact) which can be misleading...

Nicky's left leg is gonna be unheelhookable

I understand why you want to do the 3 month trial run. Consider walking around 30 years from now. I think you can see what I'm getting at. Life is not short!

Lucky you have the full two years before the next adcc. I feel like you should get the surgery and focus on recovery. Your jiu jitsu mind can be just as sharp even if you’re not training

I feel you’re pain. I have two meniscus that are torn

You can’t rehab a fully torn/ruptured ACL. It’s a ticking time bomb to not fix it. Im a big fan of “Knees Over Toes” for PT but he’s not a ortho or doctor.. I’m in the same boat as Nicky different leg. My option was to fix it with a graft or ignore it and get a full knee replacement down the line.

Man, he should really give him the 1 year rest he is talking about, but is avoiding to have. Please rest i little bit young man 🙏

I partially torn my ACL and I was on crutches for 4 months I could hardly bend my knee. How on earth is he walking with a completely torn ACL? Crazy 😅

he will have his day like big bro...

As a complete dumb dump, I think I agree with your approach, it seems the body will actually repair and adjust itself if you give it the right tools and direction.

I love a more detailed update on this topic if that's not giving away too much information to Nicky's opponents. A f**kwit who should've known better wrapped my knee with his leg, locked it in tight and threw me over it. As he was much bigger and stronger he stayed upright with my knee and I fell. Now I my ACL is completely gone, my tibia is fractured and I have other forms of minor damage in there. It'd be good to hear something positive RE where things can go from here. I was mostly training BJJ but have a more extensive boxing background and was preparing for my first MMA fight when it happened - at what was supposed to be just a chilled BJJ open mat!

Hello Nicky, I think you are still young in the sense that you can be competing until you are 40. i mean vagner Rocha took bronze at 41. don't you think its a smart move to do the acl reconstruction and try to recover asap? I am having the same dilemma currently. i want to get septoplasty done because i have a terrible time breathing, but that's gonna put me out for potentially 6 - 12 months. im curious if you guys know of anyone that has done it.

could be an advantage to heel hooks?

How does he keep tearing up his knees??

Acl reconstruction ASAP . Just do it.

There’s research showing that ACL can potentially regenerate, kanon studies in Australia

Knees over toes guy my dude

Go check out knees over toes guy. Then catch a w next adcc.

Really important to know the facts when your livelihood and your long-term health is at stake. Spontaneous healing of ruptured (100% torn) ACL is *possible* but is unfortunately quite rare. It's the same regarding high-level athletes playing without an intact ACL: there's only a few known cases where they *managed* without an ACL because they happened to have developed excessive scar tissue which prevented sliding in the joint in combination with a stabilizing knee brace. Long-term, without an ACL the risk of other serious knee injury goes way up as well because the extra movement allowed in the joint puts unhealthy strain on rest of the knee

How do these kids financially survive?

Fuxk man- I did meniscus 3 x and then acl back to back years and just all explosiveness gone, hopefully w top doctors and rehab you’ll be back and better

What a bad ass😂

Should've got the surgery

That's tough. Sorry bro.

Please check out Ben Patrick (Knee Over Toes Guy). You've likely heard of him, but it'd be dreadful if you haven't seen his content. Hope you heal fast.

hope he dont end up like danaher with his legs

You can't rehab a completely torn ligament. Get the surgery. You are still so young. He needs to take his time.

Man that sounds like a terrible idea. Like someone said in another comment, if your cartillage gets ruined, your life will be ruined too. Seems like you're eager to prove yourself, so you don't wanna stop training. You don't need to do that. Someone in my family has no cartillage in her knee and like the other guy said, only thing shencan do now is swim and bike. I hope you get the guidance you need to go through these dark times. Dont let your ego make you spend the rest of your days miserable.

I'm no doctor, but i think you should get a couple of opinions from some legit orthos before making this decision. Naming a couple of people who might be doing ok without an acl does not mean it's a good decision for you. You don't want to end up not being able to train at all in your 30s. You're still very young, you can overcome this and still have a long career. Don't rush things, take care of your body.

Only 21 too. This doesn’t bode well for the future

Get this man on the Knees over toes program!!!

ATG System via Ben Patrick

Look into knees over toes guy

get it replaced its worth it

king shit

Get the Surgery. Do a really strong rehab.

He needs to consult the ceo of epo or get on the secret juice asap

The relationship between the brothers is very strange. What happened?

Nicky is the Darren till of grappling, promising future, so much hype, and then losses and injuries keeping him from living up to his potential. Luckily he’s still super young so he has plenty of time to make an incredible career

imagine how jacked nicky ryan would have looked if he didnt have the knee injury!!! because whole smokes he was facking muscular!

For all you Bjj youngas that keep blowin out your knees and having them repaired is like a a pinched bike tire tube that you keep patchin up; Enough patches and the tube will no longer hold the air pressure. With Meniscus repairs they often go in and shave away the cartilage which leaves the bones rubbing against each other (hello arthritis). The knees play such an essential part in managing twisting/weight bearing forces yet are so susceptible to injury and wear & tear especially for athletes. It would be no surprise to see a near future with a bunch of crippled leg lockers (feel free to throw in there the blown out backs and necks). I respect John Danaher and have learned from his wisdom but I have to disagree with his position on the training/safety of leg locking in BJJ and the long term risks associated with the wear & tear of the knees. The post modern leg locking game (DDS) style is new and experimental yet time will tell how how many young Nicky Ryans will age with their injuries as athletes in the sport. There is little glory (aged bruised athlete) at the end of the tunnel. Finally, how many visits to the surgeon before your health insurance has had enough of you and they raise your rates or drop you entirely. Stem Cells are rarely covered by ins. & cost thousands of dollars if they work at all. Choose your poison.

AD Ce-ce

Nicky you should use knee pads, everyone should use them ... I had 3 surgeries at my knees, it sucks

I think nickys carrer is over... too many injuries at such a young age.

If you are willing to spend a little bit of time up north, I may know of a shaman that can fix your competition jitters.

Get the ACL reconstruction Nicky. Doing pt will not fix your problems

0:29

I taught a guy who had no ACL in either knee. It’s definitely possible.

Rest your injuries lol Listen to your brother brah

It sucks that Nicky didn’t try stem cells first before any knee surgeries. From what I’ve heard after you do surgeries the stem cells won’t work anymore. Terrible for such a young talented humble athlete.

Maybe getting help from the "Knees Over Toes" guy could help.

Nicky “ACLess” Ryan

The ACL isn’t real if you don’t think about it. Haven’t had one for over a year😂

No ACL = forget wrestling. I say this as someone without an ACL.

big mistake not to fix the acl . you will get arthrithis in 5 to 10 years and you would need a total knee replacement. the arthrithis will be the most severe one where you need a metal joint to replace your knee completely

Just get the op and rehab

Anyone still training with an ACL issue is a bad a**.