There is not a more polarizing grappler in the sport of jiu-jitsu. He is loud, he is still fairly young, he is a stud and more importantly, he is top class in skill and record. At 25 years old, Gordon Ryan has the jiu-jitsu world by the balls and he is the first to let you know that. Let’s take a closer look at this phenom.
- Born in New Jersey in 1995
- Older brother to Nicky Ryan, another world class grappler
- At 7 years old, his family was left financially ruined.
- Began training when he was 15 years old.
- At 17 years old, he was training with Garry Tonon fairly regularly.
- While training, he was working full time at the Department of Public Works so he could afford to train.
- Often, Garry Tonon would cover his travel to and from NYC back home.
- At 18, he began training full time with John Danaher and commuting 1000 miles per week.
- A member of the Danaher Death Squad, Ryan trained amongst other monsters Tom DeBlass and Garry Tonon while at Renzo Gracie’s academy.
- After an amazing 6 month run as a brown belt, Ryan was awarded a black belt in 2016.
- A 3 time world ADCC champion, no-gi IBJJF world champion and, 4 EBI championships.
- His overall record includes 142 victories out of 153 fights. Impressive considering his age, the fact he took some of 2018 off with an injury and the lack of many fights in 2020.
- He is no stranger to controversy as his social media accounts are often filled with him engaging and sometimes attacking both fans and competitors alike as well as his strong personal opinions on everything from COVID to politics.
- His girlfriend is fellow BJJ player and fitness model, Nathalia Santoro who has a fairly strong following of her own.
- In 2020 and into 2021, Ryan started to engage in a war of words with Andre Galvao and much of the ATOS team. This culminated in February 2021 when Galvao had strong words directed at Ryan in person which resulted in Ryan slapping Galvao across the face. Ryan has challenged Galvao multiple times and the grappling world is still waiting for this fight to happen.
- Ryan had a very close relationship with his father known as “Big Gord” and would often post pictures and videos of the 2 together. “Big Gord” was also a staple at Ryan’s matches. Tragically, right before Christmas in 2020, “Big Gord” passed away with Ryan finding him unresponsive.
- In late 2020, Ryan moved to Puerto Rico with his family and girlfriend. He has announced opening his own academy in spring 2021.
- You can follow Gordon Ryan on his Instagram account at instagram.com/gordonlovesjiujitsu