Gordon Ryan is widely regarded as the greatest no-gi grappler of all time. Nicknamed “The King,” the New Jersey native won seven ADCC World Championship gold medals, three IBJJF No-Gi World titles and four Eddie Bravo Invitational titles, finishing the large majority of his wins by submission. In February 2026, at 30, he announced what he called the probable end of his competitive career because of a long-running stomach illness.
From the garbage truck to black belt
Ryan was born on July 8, 1995, in Monroe Township, New Jersey, and started grappling at 15 under Miguel Benitez. He went on to train under Tom DeBlass, Garry Tonon and John Danaher, and in 2015 he quit his job as a garbage collector to commit to the sport full-time. That year he won the IBJJF No-Gi World Championship at brown belt.
After a roughly six-month run at brown belt, Ryan received his black belt from Garry Tonon in February 2016, with DeBlass, Ricardo Almeida and Danaher sharing in the promotion. He won his first Eddie Bravo Invitational absolute title two months later and submitted Keenan Cornelius with a heel hook in a no-time-limit match the same year.
ADCC: seven gold medals
ADCC, the most prestigious event in submission grappling, is where Ryan built his legacy:
- 2017 (Espoo, Finland): Gold at under 88 kg, beating Dillon Danis, Rómulo Barral, Xande Ribeiro and Keenan Cornelius. Silver in the absolute division after a loss to Felipe Pena in the final.
- 2019 (Anaheim): Gold at under 99 kg and gold in the absolute, competing with a badly injured hand. He beat Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida in the absolute final.
- 2022 (Las Vegas): Gold at over 99 kg, including an 11-second heel hook on Roosevelt Sousa, the fastest submission in ADCC history, plus a superfight win over André Galvão by rear-naked choke. He became the first competitor to win ADCC gold in three different weight classes.
- 2024 (Las Vegas): Two superfight wins on points, 2–0 over Felipe Pena and 21–0 over Yuri Simões. These were his last competitive matches.
IBJJF, EBI and the pro circuit
In 2018 Ryan swept both his weight class and the absolute at the IBJJF Pan No-Gi Championship, winning every match by submission, then took double gold at the IBJJF No-Gi World Championship. He won four EBI titles between 2016 and 2017, led Team Alpha Male to victory at Quintet 3 in 2018, and became a headline act for Who’s Number One, where he held the heavyweight title. In 2023 he signed a seven-figure multi-fight deal with FloSports.
Style
Ryan’s game is built on top pressure, back control and leg locks, a system refined with John Danaher. The rear-naked choke and heel hook are the finishes that appear most often in his record. He laid out his approach in his 2022 book, Top Game: Domination in the World of Jiu-Jitsu, and has worked with MMA fighters including former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu
After the Danaher Death Squad split in 2021, Ryan co-founded New Wave Jiu Jitsu in Austin, Texas, with Danaher and Tonon. The team won Jits Magazine’s Gym of the Year for 2022 and rebranded as Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu in April 2025. In his retirement statement Ryan said he plans to grow the academy, launch a global affiliation program and keep teaching.
Health and retirement
Ryan has dealt with stomach problems for most of his career. A 2019 gastroparesis diagnosis was later found to be wrong; the cause was an H. pylori infection plus other gut issues, and illness has repeatedly forced him out of scheduled matches. He briefly stepped away in 2021. In his February 2026 announcement he said the condition had kept him from training hard since January 2024. He left the door open to a return if his health improves.
Reputation
Ryan is as polarizing as he is accomplished. He is known for an outspoken social media presence and public feuds with rivals, including a 2021 backstage altercation with André Galvão at Who’s Number One that set up their ADCC 2022 superfight.
About the record
Grappling records depend on which events a database counts. Wikipedia’s tally, used on this page, lists 157 wins, 9 losses and 3 draws across 169 matches, with 130 wins by submission and 25 by decision. Databases that only count higher-level matches show a smaller total.
Sources: Wikipedia, Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu (Wikipedia), MiddleEasy, Grappler HQ. Photo: Derek Moneyberg, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.