Gordon Ryan
No-Gi · +99kg · Black belt
New Wave Jiu Jitsu · Austin, TX
Gordon Ryan's sourced grappling record is 102-5-3, with 82 wins by submission. That's a finish in 80% of his wins. He hasn't lost a match in our records since 2018, and 26 of those 82 finishes came by rear naked choke. He took ADCC gold in 2017, 2019 and 2022, and won the ADCC superfight in 2022 and 2024. He's a black belt under Garry Tonon, promoted in 2016, and trains at New Wave Jiu Jitsu in Austin, Texas.
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Photo: Derek Moneyberg · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
102 wins. 5 losses. How they came.
- Grappling record: 102-5-3
- By submission: 82
- By points: 8
- By decision or advantage: 10
- Finish rate: 80% of wins
- Sourced results: 2016–2024
Grappling and submission-only results. Professional MMA bouts are recorded separately and are not included in this record.
82 finishes, 7 doors.
- Rear naked choke: 26
- Inside heel hook: 10
- Triangle: 10
- Armbar: 6
- Outside heel hook: 6
- Other submission: 5
- Other (8): 19
The numbers behind the game.
- 80% Wins by submission
- Rear naked choke Most-used finish
- 48 Finishes by choke
- 90 Opponents faced
- -77kg → +99kg Divisions competed
- 74 Absolute matches
- 18-3 In finals
- 9 Years competing
Hardware, in order.
- 2024 ADCC Open Weight Superfight World Title: Champion
- 2024 ADCC Superfight: Champion
- 2022 ADCC Open Weight Superfight World Title: Champion
- 2022 WNO Heavyweight Champion: Champion
- 2022 ADCC World Tournament: 1st place
- 2019 ADCC World Tournament: 1st place
- 2019 Kinektic 1: 1st place
- 2018 IBJJF World No-Gi Championship: 1st place
- 2018 IBJJF Pans No-Gi Championship: 1st place
- 2018 Quintet 3: 1st place
- 2017 ADCC World Tournament: 1st place
- 2017 EBI 11: 1st place
- 2017 EBI 14: 1st place
- 2017 Grappling Industries: 1st place
- 2017 ADCC World Championship: 2nd place
- 2016 EBI 6: 1st place
- 2016 EBI 8: 1st place
- 2016 Grappling Industries: 1st place
Match history
| Date | Opponent | Event | Method | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2024 | Yuri Simoes | ADCC · Superfight | Points | Win |
| Aug 2024 | Felipe Pena | ADCC · Superfight | Points | Win |
| 2024 | Josh Sanders | WNO 24 · Superfight | Outside heel hook | Win |
| 2023 | Patrick Gaudio | WNO 20 · Superfight | Armbar | Win |
| Sep 2022 | Andre Galvao | ADCC · Superfight | Rear naked choke | Win |
| Sep 2022 | Nick Rodriguez | ADCC · Final | Outside heel hook | Win |
| Sep 2022 | Roosevelt Sousa | ADCC · Semifinal | Outside heel hook | Win |
| Sep 2022 | Victor Hugo | ADCC · Quarterfinal | Points | Win |
| Sep 2022 | Heikki Jussila | ADCC · Round 1 | Rear naked choke | Win |
| 2022 | Jacob Couch | WNO 12 · Superfight | Smother choke | Win |
| 2022 | Pedro Marinho | WNO 13 · Superfight | Rear naked choke | Win |
| 2022 | Felipe Pena | WNO 14 · Superfight | Submission | Win |
| 2022 | Nick Rodriguez | UFC FP Inv. · Superfight | Decision | Win |
| 2021 | Roberto Jimenez | WNO 6 · Superfight | Armbar | Win |
| 2021 | Vagner Rocha | WNO 7 · Superfight | Triangle | Win |
| 2020 | Tex Johnson | Sub Stars · Superfight | Arm triangle | Win |
| 2020 | Pat Downey | BJJ Fanatics GP · Superfight | Submission | Win |
| 2020 | David Newton | Grappling Ind. · Superfight | Rear naked choke | Win |
| 2020 | Abraham Hall | Grappling Ind. · Superfight | Triangle | Win |
| 2020 | Benjamin Dixon | Grappling Ind. · Superfight | Rear naked choke | Win |
110 sourced matches in total.
Against the names that matter.
- vs Yuri Simoes: 5-0 across 5 meetings
- vs Felipe Pena: 2-2 across 4 meetings
- vs Vagner Rocha: 2-0-1 across 3 meetings
- vs Tex Johnson: 2-1 across 3 meetings
- vs Craig Jones: 3-0 across 3 meetings
- vs Patrick Gaudio: 2-0 across 2 meetings
Where the game came from.
Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda · Carlos Gracie · Carlson Gracie · Renzo Gracie · John Danaher / Garry Tonon · Gordon Ryan
- Team: New Wave Jiu Jitsu
- Promoted by: Garry Tonon
- Base: Austin, TX
- Black belt since: 2016
- Nationality: American
- Born: Monroe Township, NJ, USA
- Height: 6'2" · 188 cm
- Weight: 99 kg
- Status: Active
- Division: +99kg
- Competing since: 2016
A system, not a highlight reel
Ryan came up through the Renzo Gracie lineage under John Danaher and Garry Tonon, the room that produced the leg-lock era of no-gi grappling. Tonon promoted him to black belt in 2016. He won his first ADCC gold the following year at 88kg.
The climb is visible in the division column of his record. He competed at 77kg in 2016 and 2017, moved to 88kg and 99kg, and now competes at +99kg and in the absolute. 74 of his 110 sourced matches were in the absolute bracket, against whoever showed up, at any size.
What separates him is the completeness of one sequence rather than a deep bag of tricks. Control the legs, pass with the body lock, climb to the back, finish with the choke. His arsenal is top-heavy on purpose: 26 rear naked chokes, then a long tail of inside heel hooks, triangles and armbars. Opponents know the sequence. They lose to it anyway.
The losses are worth reading closely, because there are only five and all of them are old. Tex Johnson beat him on points in 2016. Felipe Pena beat him twice, once by rear naked choke at Studio 540 in 2016 and once on points at ADCC 2017. Leandro Lo took a points decision at the 2017 ADCC trials. Vinny Magalhães beat him on points at ACBJJ 13 in 2018. Nobody has since.
Two thirds of his finishes arrive from behind you
Sort his 82 submissions by family and the shape of the game is obvious. Chokes account for the bulk of them, and the rear naked choke alone is 26. That number isn't about the choke. It's about everything upstream of it, because taking the back against elite black belts is the hard part and finishing from there is close to automatic.
The leg entries do a different job. Ten inside heel hooks and six outside heel hooks aren't his primary weapon, they're what stops opponents from playing guard long enough to matter. Once the guard is gone, the pass and the back take run on rails.
Common questions.
Has Gordon Ryan ever been defeated?
Yes. He has five recorded losses, all between 2016 and 2018: Tex Johnson, Felipe Pena twice, Leandro Lo, and Vinny Magalhães. Four of the five were decided on points. The only submission loss was a rear naked choke to Felipe Pena in 2016. Our records show no losses after 2018.
Who has beaten Gordon Ryan?
Four men: Felipe Pena (2016 and 2017), Tex Johnson (2016), Leandro Lo (2017) and Vinny Magalhães (2018). He reversed the Pena series, and his head-to-head with Pena now sits at 2-2 after wins in 2022 and 2024. He's 2-1 against Tex Johnson.
What is Gordon Ryan's record?
102 wins, 5 losses and 3 draws across 110 sourced matches from 2016 to 2024. 82 of those wins came by submission, 8 on points, and 10 by decision or advantage.
How many ADCC titles does Gordon Ryan have?
He won the ADCC World Championship tournament in 2017, 2019 and 2022, and took the ADCC superfight title in 2022 and 2024. He also has a 2017 silver. Counting every ADCC podium in our records, that's seven medals.
What is Gordon Ryan's most-used submission?
The rear naked choke, by a wide margin. It accounts for 26 of his 82 submission wins. His next most frequent finishes are the inside heel hook and the triangle, at 10 each.
Jiu jitsu in Austin.
- Jiu jitsu gyms in Austin, Texas
- Craig Jones — 3-0
- Andre Galvao — 1-0
- Marcus Almeida — 1-0
Sourcing
Record compiled from 110 sourced results and 18 title records across 1 source page. 23 matches carry an exact date; the remaining 87 are dated to the year only, as published by the source. Last verified 2026-08-28.