Gordon Ryan is an American no-gi grappler from New Jersey and the first athlete to win ADCC gold in three weight classes. He is a black belt under Garry Tonon and John Danaher, part of the Renzo Gracie branch of the Gracie lineage, and since 2021 he has trained and taught with New Wave Jiu-Jitsu.
Background and lineage
Ryan started training as a teenager under Miguel Benitez and then moved through the Renzo Gracie network, where Tom DeBlass, Garry Tonon and John Danaher shaped his game. Tonon gave him his black belt in February 2016, with Danaher, DeBlass and Ricardo Almeida present. He became the face of the Danaher Death Squad, the competition team built around Danaher's systems, until the group split in July 2021. Ryan and Danaher then formed New Wave Jiu-Jitsu and announced a move to Austin, Texas.
Competition highlights
- ADCC World Championship: gold at −88 kg in 2017, gold at −99 kg and in the absolute in 2019, and gold at +99 kg in 2022. He also won the open-weight superfight in 2022 against André Galvão and two superfights at ADCC 2024, beating Felipe Pena 2–0 and 2022 absolute champion Yuri Simões by a 21-point margin.
- IBJJF: World No-Gi champion at brown belt (2015), then weight and absolute champion at black belt in 2018. He also won double gold at the 2018 Pan No-Gi.
- Submission-only events: four EBI titles (EBI 6, 8, 11 and 14), the Quintet 3 team title and the Who's Number One heavyweight belt.
His most cited losses came early. Felipe Pena beat him on points in the 2017 ADCC absolute final, and Vinny Magalhães beat him on points in 2018.
Style and signature techniques
Ryan's game is built on control before submission. He passes from the top with the body lock pass and knee slide, climbs to mount and then back control, where the rear naked choke is his most common finish on BJJ Heroes. From bottom positions and leg entanglements he finishes with the heel hook, often from fifty-fifty or inside leg positions. He also finishes with the triangle and reverse triangle.
Notable matches
- Keenan Cornelius, Grappling Industries (August 2016): an inside heel hook win in a no-time-limit superfight that announced him to a wider audience.
- Craig Jones, ADCC 2017: a kata gatame finish in the absolute quarter-final against his former training partner. He also beat Jones at EBI 14 (2017) and Quintet 3 (2018).
- Marcus Almeida, ADCC 2019: a win over the gi heavyweight great on the way to absolute gold.
- André Galvão, ADCC 2022: a rear naked choke win in the open-weight superfight.
Health and breaks
Ryan has spoken openly about digestive illness. He was first diagnosed with gastroparesis in 2019, which later proved wrong, and in May 2021 he announced a break from competition. Strep throat, a tonsillectomy and a rib injury cost him most of 2023.
Book and further study
In 2022 Ryan published a book, Top Game: Domination in the World of Jiu-Jitsu. If you want to study his game, start with our back-control and leg-lock pages, then watch his ADCC matches against Galvão and Nick Rodriguez.