Ryan Hall is an American black belt from Arlington, Virginia, who took his jiu-jitsu into the UFC. He won IBJJF World titles at purple belt, ADCC bronze at −66 kg in 2009 and The Ultimate Fighter 22, then became known for heel hooking former UFC champion B.J. Penn in 2018. He runs his own academy, Fifty/50 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Background and lineage

Hall studied electrical engineering at Manhattan College in the Bronx. He trained jiu-jitsu under Felipe Costa, who promoted him to black belt in April 2010. That lineage runs through Rodrigo Medeiros, Romero "Jacaré" Cavalcanti and Rolls Gracie. He now holds a third-degree black belt. His academy shares its name with the fifty-fifty position, and in 2012 he trained MMA at Tristar Gym in Montreal.

Competition highlights

• Coloured belts: IBJJF World champion at purple belt in 2007 and 2008, plus the purple belt European Open title in 2008. Wikipedia's medal table also lists a purple belt No-Gi World title that year. He took World bronze at brown belt in 2009.
• ADCC: US West Coast Trials gold in 2009 and bronze at the 2009 World Championship at −66 kg. There he beat Jeff Curran, lost the quarter-final to Léo Vieira by guillotine, then beat Jeff Glover on points for bronze. Wikipedia's medal table also lists ADCC North American Championship gold in 2008.
• Black belt: IBJJF Chicago Open absolute title (2009) and several open titles, along with losses to Rafael Mendes (2010) and Augusto Mendes (2011) at the Worlds.

Style and signature techniques

BJJ Heroes lists the triangle and heel hook as his favourite techniques. His recorded submission wins include rear naked chokes, heel hooks, a toe hold and an armbar. The heel hook carried into MMA: he submitted Johnny Nunez, Frantz Slioa and B.J. Penn with it. Before he started competing in MMA, he lost the 2007 US Open purple belt final to Nate Diaz by submission.

MMA career

Hall lost his first MMA fight to Eddie Fyvie in 2006, then returned in 2012. On The Ultimate Fighter 22 in 2015 he won his first two bouts by heel hook and lost a quarter-final decision to Saul Rogers, yet still won the lightweight tournament by beating Artem Lobov in the finale. In the UFC he beat Gray Maynard (2016), Darren Elkins (2019) and Darrick Minner (2021). His heel hook on B.J. Penn at UFC 232 in December 2018 won Performance of the Night and Submission of the Year. His only UFC loss was a first-round knockout by Ilia Topuria at UFC 264 in 2021. His professional record stands at 9–2.