Ryan Hall built his grappling reputation on conceptual guard systems—especially triangles and 50/50—before a black-belt career that included ADCC bronze in 2009 at -66 kg. He later won The Ultimate Fighter 22 lightweight tournament and fought in the UFC, where a first-round heel hook of B.J. Penn at UFC 232 became one of his signature MMA finishes.

His teaching still emphasizes concepts and entanglement structures that many academies use for modern guard. On Open BJJ he connects triangle, fifty-fifty, and open-guard technique pages to both sport grappling and MMA contexts.