Gordon Ryan is known as the greatest ever nogi BJJ athlete. However, due to his interesting personality he is also well known outside of grappling. Because of this, he has earned a loyal fan base over the years and in general, people like to pay attention to his persona. Below, we have answered some of the most frequently asked questions about the star.
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How much is Gordon Ryan worth?
Ultimately, only Gordon Ryan and his accountant will know the true answer to this. However, his net worth makes him a comfortable millionaire. Firstly, it’s a fact that Ryan has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on cars. He also took a screenshot of one months revenue from his BJJFanatics DVD sales which was impressively high. Elsewhere, he also put his house on the market for $1.25 million dollars.
In short, he has incredible pulling power which means his sponsorships, fight money and DVD sales all bring in bank. A rough estimate would put his net worth around $3 million, although this probably goes up with each passing year.
Who is Gordon Ryan’s girlfriend?
Gordon Ryan is dating Nathalia Santoro. Hailing from Brazil, Santoro is a fitness model who specializes in personal training and is the brains behind his impressive body transformation. In short, she helped him get jacked. For years, the pair would joke that she was his sister, which was not real and was loosely based on her getting ‘adopted’ from Brazil to the USA. Santoro is also a keen BJJ practitioner herself and also competes in super fights too.
How fast did Gordon Ryan get his black belt?
It took Gordon Ryan 5 years to get to black belt. Throughout his belts, he trained under various teachers such as Tom DeBlass, Garry Tonon and John Danaher. Obviously, 5 years is a quick time to get to black belt…but when you’re the best in the world it is completely justified. Interestingly, Ryan was much lighter during his earlier belts and bulked up significantly as a black belt. As well, he seemed to become much better at BJJ for his rank as he progressed, which showed constant learning.
Did Gordon Ryan retire?
For a brief stint in early 2020, Gordon Ryan claimed that he had retired from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This was after winning ADCC both in his bracket and the absolute division. During this stage, he traveled across America for a few weeks, before returning to training. It is not known whether he said this in jest or genuinely did retire then came back to grappling after changing his mind.
Who has beaten Gordon Ryan?
As of 2021, Gordon Ryan has been beaten 5 times as an adult. Four of these times were by points, with one being by a RNC by Pena. Interestingly, Pena also beat Ryan in the 2017 ADCC 6-0. Others who have beaten him are Leandro Lo, Tex Johnson and most recently in 2018, he lost on points to Vinny Magalhaes.
Interestingly, Tex Johnson’s victory was controversial and was point scored by Tex’s team mate in which the timer stopped working. Gordon Ryan claims that he would have won under normal rules, but the lack of organization went against him. He later beat Johnson later in his career.
As well, during his loss to Magalhaes, he seemed to have a deep heel hook on the Brazilian who refused to tap and later said ‘leg locks don’t work’. Years later, Magalhaes fought Craig Jones who attacked a similar heel hook and popped the knees of Magalhaes who was visibly injured.
Has Gordon Ryan ever been submitted?
As an adult, Gordon Ryan has impressively only ever been submitted once. This was by his long-term rival Felipe Pena. This was at a Studio 540 SPF competition back in 2016 and was done by a rear-naked choke. The reason why Ryan has never been submitted outside of this event is due to several reasons. In short, his guard is incredibly difficult to pass. However, he also trains defense and escapes intensively which means even if you did catch him in a submission hold, he can still escape with relative ease.
One instance of this was during an EBI-rules match with Craig Jones. Here, Ryan was caught in an armbar and it looked close to breaking. Ryan soldiered on, escaped and tapped Jones. After, the two became team mates.
Does Gordon Ryan do Gi?
As a lower belt, Gordon Ryan did train and compete in the gi. The footage is out there for all to see. However, by his own admission, his training these days is based solely on nogi grappling. He once did have a stint in 2018 when he began training in the gi and at the time wanted to go into it.
However, this period only lasted a few months and he quickly reverted to nogi. In brief, Ryan would still dominate most gi players if he wore the gi. Not only is his grappling excellent, but remember he’s also trained a fair amount in the gi before he got to black belt. Having said this, he has no intentions of training the gi. He even said at one point how the gi was ‘Fading out’ and that it would be more or less irrelevant in 10 years.
How tall is Gordon Ryan?
Gordon Ryan is roughly 1.90 meters tall. In other words, he stands around 6’2 in height. Before his physical transformation, he was known as tall and lanky. He is also substantially taller than his younger brother Nicky Ryan, who is closer to 5’9.
Is Gordon Ryan The Goat?
Gordon Ryan often refers to himself as ‘The Goat’, a title which means ‘The greatest of all time’. In terms of nogi accomplishments, this is probably true, as not many can match up to his various ADCC titles, and other wins. The numbers speak for themselves, he is very rarely beaten, let alone submitted. Because of this, the nogi title is very fair.
However, when it comes to the gi, Ryan himself admits that he is not the GOAT. Instead, he gives that title to Roger Gracie, who also has a ridiculously impressive record. As Ryan has no interest in the gi, he openly accepts Roger Gracie to be the best to do it in the cloth.
Is Gordon Ryan going to MMA?
Gordon Ryan once teased about going into MMA in 2019. However, he quickly dropped the idea to focus on nogi Jiu Jitsu. According to his mentor John Danaher, Ryan could earn more money from BJJ compared to in MMA. It is widely accepted that Ryan earns more than most UFC Champions, so this makes financial sense.
However, in 2021 – Ryan signed a contract with ONE, the Asian MMA promotion. Although this was primarily for grappling superfights, he also hinted that he could do MMA at some point in the future.
How old is Nicky Ryan?
Nicky Ryan was born in 2001. He is the younger sibling of Gordon Ryan and lives with him in Puerto Rico. Also a John Danaher black belt, Nicky competes in a smaller weight class to Gordon and also significantly bulked up with muscle after achieving his black belt. Gordon Ryan was born in 1995.
