Nicky Ryan

Nicky Ryan was born June 27, 2001, and grew up training jiu-jitsu alongside his older brother Gordon Ryan, both eventually falling under the direct tutelage of John Danaher at the Renzo Gracie Academy. Nicky's own account of his early years is notably self-deprecating — he has described his pre-jiu-jitsu self as an unmotivated kid with no real direction — but once he committed to the sport, his development was fast and highly publicized, partly because his older brother was already becoming one of the most dominant no-gi competitors in the world.

Ryan began winning adult tournaments as young as 13 and earned his purple belt in mid-2017, the same year he became the youngest athlete ever to compete at the ADCC World Championships, at just 16 years old — a record that drew significant attention to him well before he'd finished high school. Over the next few years he built a reputation for testing far more experienced, credentialed opponents, including notable wins over well-known competitors, all while still a teenager working through Danaher's famously technical, systemized curriculum as part of the group that became known as the Danaher Death Squad (DDS). He was promoted to brown belt in October 2019 and, on November 3, 2020, John Danaher awarded him his black belt at just 19 years old — one of the youngest DDS members to reach that rank.

The DDS's run as the sport's dominant super-team ended abruptly in 2021 amid a reported family and business rift, following the death of the Ryan brothers' father in December 2020. Rather than staying with Danaher, Nicky Ryan left alongside training partners Craig Jones, Nick Rodriguez, and Ethan Crelinsten to found B-Team Jiu-Jitsu in Austin, Texas — a split that also strained his relationship with his brother Gordon, who remained aligned with Danaher. As part of B-Team, Ryan continued competing at the sport's highest level, including an appearance in the ultra-competitive -77kg bracket at ADCC 2022, one of the deepest weight divisions in the sport's history.

Ryan's competitive momentum was interrupted by injury: he underwent ACL reconstruction surgery, sidelining him from major competition through 2025. Rather than rush back, he has used the recovery period to build out his coaching profile, working directly with B-Team athletes including his former training partner and now UFC BJJ competitor Nicky Rodriguez, as well as other up-and-coming grapplers. As of early 2026, Ryan has stated a target of returning to competition in mid-to-late 2026, while acknowledging that another injury could push him toward a full-time coaching role instead.

Even with his competitive record incomplete relative to what many expected from a generational prodigy, Ryan's story is notable for how young he reached the top of the sport, how publicly he navigated one of grappling's most talked-about team breakups, and how central he has remained — as both athlete and coach — to the B-Team project that reshaped the sport's post-DDS landscape.

Technical, systemized leg-lock and back-take game rooted in the Danaher curriculum