Podbit · The Shawn Ryan Show

#325 Sean Strickland - The Most Controversial Fighter in the UFC Opens Up Like Never Before

Explore episode Jul 27, 2026

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Shawn Ryan's Suicide Attempt in a Medellín Stupor

#325 Sean Strickland - The Most Controversial Fighter in th… · Jul 27, 2026 Health & Fitness

Blacked out drunk at a bar in Boca Raton, Ryan went home and attempted suicide three ways in one night: running his car in a closed garage, retrieving a .45 from the safe, and only surviving because the heat melted a hole in his gas tank — which dripped onto the muffler and started a fire. He woke up upstairs with no memory, saw the gun on the couch, smelled the exhaust, and realized what he'd done.

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Ryan's Suicide Attempt — and Why He Believes He Survived

At 1:14:00 · chapter starts 1:05:35

The conversation reaches its deepest emotional point when Ryan discloses his suicide attempt. Blacked out on alcohol and painkillers after a night at the Blue Martini in Boca Raton, he came home, closed the garage, ran the car. He woke upstairs with no memory, found the gun on his couch — a .45 he'd taken from the safe — with his clothes off. The house smelled like exhaust. The garage door was hot to the touch. When he opened it, he found his car still running and the muffler on fire, where melting gas had dripped. He pulled the car out still drunk, and later realized he'd attempted suicide three separate ways in one night: car, gun, and a near-explosion. He attributes surviving to something beyond coincidence, and it becomes the launching pad for a conversation about faith, purpose, and why he thinks powerful figures like Ryan are meant to be here.

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