Schultz was born and raised in North Platte, Nebraska. He was a member of his high school wrestling team, graduating in 1996. Schultz has a degree in criminal justice from the University of Nebraska, where he continued to compete in wrestling, coached by Matt Lindland. After graduation, Ryan worked as an apprentice plumber in Colorado, before embarking on his MMA career. Schultz is a member of Team Quest, training with his former wrestling coach and former UFC veteran Matt Lindland.

Schultz was entered into his first MMA fight by a friend. The fight took place at Dan Severn’s promotion Dangerzone, in April 2004, in North Dakota. Schultz had not trained at all for the fight, but won by KO, after just 45 seconds. A few days after the fight, Lindland asked Schultz to join Team Quest, an offer which Schultz accepted. Over the next three years, Schultz competed in 20 fights in various promotions, including the WEC, Hawaiian promotion SuperBrawl, Absolute Fighting Championship, and SportFight – a promotion founded by Matt Lindland and Randy Couture.

On June 18, 2004, Schultz won an eight-man lightweight tournament, at SuperBrawl 36 in Hawaii. Schultz won his first fight that night, against Mike Aina, by a split decision. In the semi-final fight, Schultz submitted Deshaun Johnson by a rear-naked choke in the first round. In the finals, Schultz defeated Roger Huerta, who verbally submitted due to a dislocated jaw.

Ryan Schultz entered the IFL promotion as a member of the Portland Wolfpack team, with a record of 13-7-1. He defeated Cam Ward by TKO in his first fight in the promotion, but lost to Los Angeles Anacondas’ Chris Horodecki in his second fight, two months later. In his third fight, on December 29, 2006, he faced Quad Cities Silverbacks’ future UFC veteran Bart Palaszewski. Schultz dominated the first and second round of the fight, but got caught by Palaszewski’s right hand in the third round, and lost by KO. The match was awarded “Fight of the Night” honors.

In July 2008, Schultz agreed to a five event deal with the Japanese promotion Sengoku. In his first fight for the promotion, at Sengoku IV, Schultz lost to Mizuto Hirota, by KO in the second round. Schultz faced Jorge Masvidal in his next fight, which took place less than a month after Sengoku IV. Masvidal was able to knockdown Schultz in the first round, and finished him by TKO using strikes on his grounded opponent.

Ryan is featured in the mixed martial arts documentary Fight Life, released in 2013, the film is directed by independent filmmaker James Z. Feng and produced by RiLL Films.