This Is Why All BJJ Should Celebrate Gordon Ryan’s 7-Figure Deal

• Gordon Ryan announced a 7-figure, non-exclusive partnership with FloGrappling, a deal size without precedent in Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s (BJJ) 120-year history. But it’s big news for the sport of BJJ as a whole.
• “Ryan joins stars like Connor McGregor, Georges St Pierre, Ronda Rousey, and others who elevated fighter pay overall by increasing theirs due to star power and defining their worth in negotiations,” said Ryan’s longtime coach, friend, and six-degree BJJ blackbelt, John Danaher, via email.
• “They put the best grappler in the world, pound for pound, under contract, and that opens the door for others to follow to make Jiu-Jitsu a real way to earn a good living,” said former UFC two-division champion Georges St-Pierre said via text message.

Grappling With His Gut

On a good day, Gordon Ryan, arguably the greatest no-gi grappler of all time, lies beside the mats, clutching his stomach, debilitated by pain and persistent, extreme nausea, unable to train. On a bad day, he’s spends more time on the toilet than on the mats, and today is not a good day.

Ryan’s lean, 218-pound frame has been his vessel for dominance. He’s used it to enforce his will on others via an 82% submission rate, dispatching the world’s strongest men and its greatest grapplers with self-described ease, all while becoming a 5x ADCC World champion, 2x IBJJF No-Gi World champion, and 4x Eddie Bravo Invitational champion.

Yet, for the first six months of 2022, Ryan was unable to train because of it. Then, three weeks before Ryan attempted to make history at ADCC in September 2022, he visited a doctor referred to him by Mo Jassim, the event’s lead organizer.

Ryan carried on, becoming the first person to win gold in three different weight. classes in the event’s 24-year history. Then, he announced his 7-figure deal with FloGrappling last week. But he has yet to out-grapple his gut.

This doctor discovered his gut woes weren’t gastroparesis per the initial diagnosis, but a fungal infection in his intestine that was starting to affect his kidney function.

Today the most dominant figure in grappling is in a rare position, on the verge of submission, his grand ambition hindered by the only living thing seemingly capable of such a feat today: himself. But Ryan doesn’t tap.

A 120-Year Overnight Success

To appreciate the magnitude of Ryan’s 7-figure deal, you need to understand the history of the sport, as martial arts are a niche sport and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) was on its fringe.

BJJ has a storied 120-year history dating back to the early 1900s in Brazil, adopted by way of traditional Japanese jūjutsu, via the late Grandmasters Helio Gracie, Carlos Gracie Senior, and their siblings.

Today, practitioners celebrate BJJ as the preeminent self-defense system and refer to it as the “gentle art,” but its origins were anything but that.

Respect in combat sports is earned, not given, and BJJ earned its respect through invitations–and sometimes direct provocations–of traditional martial artists.

The Gracies challenged practitioners of other disciplines to partake in “vale tudo” matches, Portuguese for “no holds barred,” to demonstrate BJJ’s stylistic superiority.

Helio Gracie versus Japanese judoka Masahiko Kimura on October 23, 1951, in Maracanã Stadium in Brazil was one such match.

The elevation of BJJ continued when Royce Gracie fought Gerard Gordeau at UFC 1 in 1993, then Kazushi Sakuraba in 2000 for Pride Fighting Championships.

Then there’s Joe Rogan, who spread the gospel of the martial art to his millions of listeners. “Rogan changed everything,” said Jassim via phone interview.

Rogan’s martial arts commentary for the UFC and via his long-form discussion about it on his podcast stem from his personal experience, dating back to Rogan’s childhood.

He started Taekwondo at age 7. Now, he is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He also holds two black belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from instructors Jean Jacques Machado and Eddie Bravo. Rogan and Ryan are friends, and he’s appeared on his podcast.

BJJ’s Unlikely Vanguard

Fast forward to today, and Keanu Reeves, Mario Lopez, Jason Momoa, and even Mark Zuckerberg all train jiu-jitsu, evidence of the sport’s broadening appeal.

(Tom Hardy is busy on the mats, too, winning gold after three submission wins at the UMAC Milton Keynes BJJ Open in England last September). Many public figures credit Ryan for the surge in interest.

“Through this deal, he brings to a much wider demographic what he was able personally give me and my family: respect for body, community, and a tightening of the unit that makes up for the family,” said Jason Momoa, actor of Aquaman and Game of Thrones fame, via text message when asked about Ryan’s deal.

Of course, Ryan isn’t alone. Everyone from Helio Gracie to Joe Rogan played a part. But Ryan’s role as “a polarizing figure who pulls eyes to the screen,” according to longtime coach, friend, and sixth-degree BJJ blackbelt John Danaher, has taken things to “a level unseen in the sport.”

“Work makes you solvent, and sports make you happy. Once you get paid to do what makes you happy, you can drop the work and focus on play,” said Danaher.

And Ryan, a naturally blonde-haired, brown-eyed, 27-year-old 1st-degree black belt from Monroe, New Jersey, is playing at a level no one else has in the sport’s 120-year-old history, acting as its unlikely vanguard.

Financial Full Mount

Ryan is, as Danaher said, in a word: polarizing. He regularly lambasts competitors for turning down fight offers. Jassim didn’t even like Ryan at first. “I couldn’t stand him. I thought to myself, who does this guy think he is? He hasn’t done anything yet,” he told me. But behind closed doors, its said he advocates for those very same competitors.

“We spent an afternoon together recently, and he never referenced once anything of his own need. He’s talking on behalf of his competitors and all of the grapplers, all over the world, and I believe that’s who he competes for,” said Vice President and General Manager of UFC Fight Pass, Crowley Sullivan via phone interview.

Sullivan and Ryan first collaborated for the inaugural UFC FightPass invitational.

“Some athletes in his position might take advantage of the position to sit with the promotion, but with him, there’s genuine collaboration, and he believes deeply in his mission, which is to grow the sport to the extent that its mainstream, which is why he’s so involved in all the aspects of operation,” Sullivan said.

Excluding his recent deal with FloGrappling, Ryan says he averaged $400k in monthly revenue over the past year, mostly from instructional video sales, whose buyers are primarily between the ages of 25-40 (he said $300k, but following our phone interview, verified the figure then sent a correction via text).

And now, Ryan’s efforts, coupled with ADCC’s just-announced partnership with UFC FightPass, Rogan’s platform, the adoption of the sport by household names, along with other happenings beyond the scope of this story, a BJJ domino effect is happening.

And, evidenced by Connor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, and other fighters, sometimes all it takes is one guy with gusto the elevate a sport into mainstream consciousness. Or, in Ryan’s case, arrogance (depending on who you ask and when).

Tom DeBlass, a 3x ADCC trial winner and east coast trials judge for 2023, has known Ryan since he was 15. “He was just as arrogant back then as he is now. He just wasn’t as good,” DeBlass told me via phone interview. “But his work ethic was equal to his self-belief. That’s why he’s here.”