Gordon Ryan

Ryan began training jiu-jitsu at 15, briefly under Miguel Benitez before moving to Ocean County Jiu Jitsu under Renzo Gracie black belt Tom DeBlass, where he trained alongside Garry Tonon; he often travelled with DeBlass to classes at Renzo Gracie’s academy in New York, and with DeBlass’s blessing John Danaher became his coach. In 2015 he won the No-Gi World Championship at brown belt.⁠[1]

His younger brother Nicky Ryan, six years his junior, is also an elite grappler; Nicky recalls that Gordon became hooked on jiu-jitsu at about 16 and was taking three or four classes a day.⁠[2]

By April 2016 Ryan had received his black belt from Garry Tonon, the first black belt Tonon had awarded.⁠[3]

That year, only a few months into his black belt, Ryan met IBJJF No-Gi World champion Keenan Cornelius in a no-time-limit match arranged by Grappling Industries. Cornelius later recalled being submitted by a heel hook after about 90 minutes and described Ryan’s greatest strength as a bull-headed persistence.⁠[4]

Before Eddie Bravo Invitational 6 on April 24, 2016, EBI 4 winner Eddie Cummings withdrew injured and was replaced by his teammate Ryan; the winner’s prize was $25,000.⁠[3]

In the 16-man submission-only tournament, the 20-year-old Ryan beat 2015 ADCC champion Yuri Simões in overtime in the semifinal and Rustam Chsiev in overtime in the final to take the title.⁠[5]

At the ADCC World Championship in September 2017, coached by John Danaher, Ryan won gold in the 88 kg division, the first American to do so, submitting opponents including Keenan Cornelius, Romulo Barral, Mahamed Aly and Craig JonesCraig JonesCraig Jones is an Australian Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and submission grappler, a two-time ADCC World Championship runner-up, a co-founder of B-Team Jiu Jitsu and, from 2024, the founder of the Craig Jones Invitational with its million-dollar prizes.Open the full entry; he lost the absolute final to Felipe Pena 6–0 on points and took silver.⁠[6]

At the Quintet 3 team grappling event in October 2018, Ryan competed for Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male, submitting Josh Barnett and Marcos Souza in the semifinal and beating opponents including Craig Jones in the final as the team took the title.⁠[7]

At the IBJJF No-Gi World Championship in Anaheim, California, in December 2018, Ryan won gold in both the ultra-heavy and absolute divisions: in the ultra-heavy final he was ahead on points when Roberto Cyborg was disqualified for the force he used grabbing Ryan’s neck, and in the absolute final a sweep attempt gave him the deciding advantage over Yuri Simões.⁠[8]

At the ADCC World Championship at the Anaheim Convention Center in September 2019, Ryan submitted Vinicius Trator with a rear-naked choke in the 99 kg final and then won the absolute final, which carried a $40,000 prize, on a penalty against Marcus Buchecha, completing a double; he was set to challenge André Galvão in the next superfight.⁠[9]

In October 2020 FloGrappling’s Who’s Number One event was headlined by Ryan against fellow 2019 ADCC champion Matheus Diniz; Ryan pulled guard at the start, controlled Diniz repeatedly and, when Diniz gave up a leg in a scramble, finished him with a heel hook.⁠[10]

In November 2020 Ryan was planning to leave New Jersey for Puerto Rico together with Craig Jones, Nicky Ryan and Ethan Crelinsten; he had made his unhappiness with life in New Jersey known and had long been concerned about high taxes, although the athletes had not yet made an official announcement.⁠[11]

In December Ryan said on Instagram that John Danaher would also move to Puerto Rico and that the new gym, within a mile of Dorado Beach Reserve, would tentatively open in February or March and be open to the public.⁠[12]

At a Who’s Number One event in February 2021, after his teammate Craig Jones beat ATOS black belt Ronaldo Jr. by heel hook in the main event, Ryan offered his hand to ATOS founder André Galvão, who refused it and gave him the middle finger; the two then argued backstage, where Ryan slapped Galvão twice before other competitors stepped in, and FloGrappling posted footage on Instagram.⁠[13]

Ryan then posted a lengthy statement on Instagram tracing his disputes with ATOS competitors back to 2017, criticizing Galvão, Josh Hinger, Lucas Barbosa, Ronaldo Junior and Keenan Cornelius by name, and praising Jones’s performance that night; as of March 1 Galvão had made no public comment on the altercation.⁠[14]

On March 22, 2021, ONE Championship chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced that Ryan had signed with the organization to compete in submission grappling and possibly make his mixed martial arts debut; the 25-year-old was then a three-time ADCC World Champion, three-time IBJJF No-Gi World Champion and four-time EBI champion.⁠[15]

On July 26, 2021, John Danaher announced that the Danaher Death Squad would no longer exist as a unified training and competition team, attributing the split mainly to disagreements over the location of a future school, personality conflicts, conflicting values and tension between the team brand and members’ individual brands; he singled out Garry Tonon, Ryan, Craig Jones, Eddie Cummings, Nicky Ryan and Nick Rodriguez for thanks.⁠[16]

The same day Ryan announced that he would move to Austin, Texas, and open an academy with those who chose to stay with him.⁠[17]

Ryan appeared with Georges St-PierreGeorges St-PierreGeorges St-Pierre (GSP) is a Canadian mixed martial artist who twice won the UFC welterweight title and set the division record of nine consecutive title defenses; after winning the middleweight title in a 2017 comeback he retired, and he is a member of the UFC Hall of Fame and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.Open the full entry and John Danaher on episode 260 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, published on January 30, 2022.⁠[18]

On the show he discussed his social-media trash talk, describing it as something he does for fun in his spare time and saying he usually answers critics with his actual results.⁠[19]

At the ADCC World Championship in September 2022, Ryan submitted Roosevelt Sousa in 11 seconds in the +99 kg semifinal and heel-hooked Nick Rodriguez to win the final; later that day he built a 12–0 lead over André Galvão in the superfight and submitted him with a rear-naked choke at 16:04 for his fifth ADCC title.⁠[20]

ADCC then announced its 2022 awards, giving Ryan both the fastest-submission and best-athlete honors; he was the first competitor in ADCC history to win a weight class and the superfight at the same event.⁠[21]

UFCUFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is a mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion based in Las Vegas, United States. It began in 1993 as a no-holds-barred fighting tournament and gradually entered the mainstream after the Fertitta brothers’ Zuffa bought it for $2 million in 2001; it was sold for about $4 billion in 2016 to a consortium led by WME-IMG, and in 2023 it merged with WWE to form the publicly traded TKO Group Holdings, where as of 2026 it is one of the largest businesses by revenue.Open the full entry Fight Pass Invitational 3 on December 15, 2022, was to be headlined by Ryan against Vinny Magalhaes, who withdrew days before and was replaced by Nick Rodriguez; with no finish in regulation, Ryan won on the faster escape time in EBI overtime.⁠[22]

It was his 44th consecutive grappling win; the day before, he had rolled with World’s Strongest Man winners Hafthor Björnsson and Martins Licis, which he later called one of the riskiest decisions of his career.⁠[23]

In January 2023 Ryan announced a seven-figure multi-fight contract with FloSports; he was then the heavyweight champion of FloGrappling’s Who’s Number One promotion, a title he won by submitting Pedro Marinho.⁠[24]

In August 2023 Ryan spent a week training with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who was preparing to face Stipe Miocic at UFC 295, and praised on Instagram how quickly Jones learned complicated sequences.⁠[25]

On October 1, 2023, Ryan returned to competition in the main event of Who’s Number One 20: Night of Champions, submitting Patrick Gaudio with an armbar at 14:42 to retain the heavyweight title.⁠[26]

On June 20, 2024, in his first match of the year, Ryan headlined Who’s Number One 24 and submitted Josh Saunders with a heel hook to retain the heavyweight title again.⁠[27]

At the 2024 ADCC World Championship, Ryan, as reigning superfight champion, became the first to contest two superfights in one weekend: on August 17 he beat Felipe Pena, who had led their series 2–1, by 2–0 on points, and on August 18 he beat 2022 ADCC absolute champion Yuri Simões 21–0 on points.⁠[28]

In July 2025 Ryan released footage of the first professional class at the Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu headquarters, an academy he co-founded with John Danaher and others; the team had trained for years at the Roka facility in Austin under the New Wave Jiu-Jitsu name, and the new headquarters opened first to the pro team and to the public a few weeks later.⁠[29]

On February 16, 2026, the tenth anniversary of his black belt, Ryan announced the end of his competitive career in a lengthy Instagram statement and said he would focus on building the Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu academy.⁠[30]

He had not booked a match since ADCC 2024 and had already said publicly that he would not defend the superfight title at ADCC 2026.⁠[31]

ONE Championship: Official website: https://www.onefc.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[15]