Gordon Ryan - “The King” Elite Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Fighter

Gordon Ryan, born on July 8th, 1995 in Monroe New Jersey, United States. Gordon was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 15. He began fighting in professional submission grappling in 2011 as a BJJ brown belt and has since built an excellent record of 143 wins, 9 defeats, and 3 draws. Several of his victories came at the hands of some of the world's top grappling tournaments. In addition to being the ADCC World Champion on three occasions, Ryan has also been the IBJJF No-Gi World Champion and the Eddie Bravo Invitational Champion four times. Gordon Ryan is a member of the well-known Danaher Death Squad (DDS). He got his training under Garry Tanon and John Danaher in his hometown.

Now that Ryan is 26 years old, he has accomplished major goals that any black belt jiu-jitsu hopes to achieve . As well as being one of the most successful grapplers in the world, Gordon is also the highest-paid professional grappler in the world. He has made the number one hit instructional on BJJ Fanatics and is the highest-paid professional grappler in the world.

He first got his training from Miguel Benitez who boosted his confidence in Submission Wrestling. Gordon is best known for his No-Gi and submission-oriented jiu-jitsu, where he has defeated big fighters such as Romulo Barral, Alexandre Ribeiro, and Gabriel Arges. Soon after, he began training with the legendary fighter (former UFC fighter) Tom DeBlass at Ocean County Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy. He continued working and improving to get to an international level of skill.

Gordon was introduced to Garry Tanon only a few months after starting his training. Gordon was a four-striped belt at the time and just recently received his brown belt but he was already being recognized as one of the sport’s brightest stars, as well as one of DeBlass’s most talented and successful students.

During their time together, Garry and Gordon became great friends. Gordon attended lessons at Gordon Brunswick’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy. Tanon would keep an eye on Gordon Ryan as he worked to perfect his successful submission-only strategy game.

After becoming increasingly interested in the prospect of pursuing a full-time career in sport, Gordon Ryan traveled to New York with Tanon to train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with one of his other mentors, John Danaher, the head coach of the infamous Renzo Gracie Academy. Training under Danaher, Gordon began to refine the Ashi Garami game that had proven so beneficial for the former students of Danaher.

As a submission-oriented competitor and one of the most prominent jiu-jitsu figures of this generation, Gordon established himself as one of the world’s top brown belts in 2015 by winning the No-Gi World Championship and the Newaza Challenge.This resulted in Gordon being promoted to black belt under Garry Tanon, becoming Tanon’s first student to achieve the rank, a belt that he got from another of Gordon’s coaches, John Danaher.

Gordon Ryan is without a doubt one of the most talented modern day grapplers of our generation. His remarkable journey began when he started training in BJJ and got his black belt in just five years.

In April 2016, Yuri Simes, a former world champion grappler, and famous grappler Rustam Chsiev were the opponents Ryan faced during his struggle to win the Eddie Bravo Invitational Championship.

In September 2017, Ryan was invited to the Prestigious ADCC World Championship Tournament held in Finland. After completing a major physical transformation, he started participating in the 88 kg weight class.

To become king, Ryan had to overcome many formidable opponents.

To win the 88 kg division, Ryan submitted every single one of his opponents before winning the finals with an arm-in guillotine, defeating American grappler Keenan Cornelius to become the ADCC World Champion.

The IBJJF Pan No-Gi tournament took place in September 2018 and Ryan took first place in both his weight class and the Ultimate Division using his submission style. Ryan was the driving force behind Team Alpha Male's triumph in Quintet's third tournament of 2018.

Gordon Ryan fought in a super fight against Joao Gabriel Rocha in Dallas, Texas, as part of the KASAI Super Series in 2019.

After repeated antibiotic treatment for a persistent staphylococcus infection (staph), Ryan reported having stomach issues in 2018. The athlete was first diagnosed with Gastroparesis, a disorder that affects the stomach muscles and inhibits regular stomach emptying.

Reported by Bloody Elbow, Gordon officially retired from competition in May 2021, explaining to his fans that he was unable to maintain a high level of training and performance due to his health. Gordon had been suffering from this condition for nearly four years when he announced his retirement.

In the middle of 2021,the Danaher Death Squad made an announcement that shocked the BJJ community. The team split up. John Danaher shared “A combination of factors revolving around disagreements in regards to the physical location of a future school, personality conflicts, conflicting values and an inevitable tension between the team brand and the growing individual brands of members were the main factors.

Gordon Ryan Puts On The Pressure In The Training Room

Gordon Ryan vs. Philip Rowe | Who's Number One

Gordon Ryan vs Vinicius Gazola - 2019 ADCC World Championships

Gordon Ryan vs Dillon Danis - ADCC 2017 World Championships

Gordon Ryan vs Garry Tonon - 2019 ADCC World Championships

Keenan Cornelius vs Gordon Ryan - ADCC 2017 World Championships

Photo credit: @gordonlovesjiujitsu