At the age of 29, Gordon Ryan has already established himself as the greatest no-gi submission grappler in the world with 5 ADCC titles under his belt. On the other hand, his brother, Nicky Ryan, is not that far behind him as the 23-year-old is the youngest competitor in ADCC history. However, the relationship between the two brothers once had a very bumpy phase.

Nicky Ryan is a black belt BJJ practitioner, which he earned from Gordon Ryan’s former coach, John Danaher. He represented the Danaher Death Squad, just like his brother. Moreover, he started to have differences with Gordon because of that highly successful grappling team while being a part of DDS.

Why did Nicky Ryan and Gordon Ryan split?

Following the dissolution of the Danaher Death Squad, Nicky and Gordon Ryan’s relationship fell off. The DDS split gave rise to plenty of speculations, but John Danaher would reveal in a podcast that the primary reason behind the team’s breakup were the problems between Nicky and Gordon Ryan. “In particular, there was a family tension between two brothers which magnified over time. As time went by these tensions started increasing. It came to a point where it was difficult for them to be even in the training room together,” Danaher told Lex Fridman.

While we don’t know the inside details about what led them to develop a strained relationship, speculations point towards opinion indifferences. Nicky, just last year, opened up on how things looked after the team’s split, revealing that he didn’t speak to his brother until 2023.

“During the initial split, we [Nicky and Gordon] definitely hated each other at the beginning. But it’s definitely started to calm down,” Nicky Ryan told Lex Fridman on his podcast. “Just prior to all this social media drama that’s going on currently, he [Gordon Ryan] reached out to me. And it was literally the first time we actually talked since the split happened. So we didn’t talk to each other for, what is now, almost two years.”

The conversation they had after two years made Nicky Ryan feel as if things were starting to go into the right places. “He wasn’t aggressive towards me, I wasn’t aggressive towards him, we were cracking some jokes, so… Hopefully, the animosity is going down,” Nicky added. Following the split, the 23-year-old would continue training, but he would jump ship to a new gym.

Where does Nicky Ryan train after leaving John Danaher’s Death Squad?

When Danaher Death Squad disbanded, Nicky Ryan, who once represented Renzo Gracie Academy, co-founded his own team. Joining hands with Craig Jones and Nick Rodriguez, Gordon Ryan’s brother would form the B-Team. Meanwhile, his brother would remain loyal to John Danaher, and together, they’d join Gary Tonon to establish New Wave Jiu-Jitsu.

Nicky Ryan may not found the kind of success his brother has had in his martial arts career, but he still boasts a healthy 24-7. He’s even won the 2019 ADCC North American Championship under the 66 kg category. Now, we wait to see if he can get to the epitome of submission grappling as he chases his first major title. It will be interesting to see how things pan out for the 23-year-old.

What are your thoughts on the complicated relationship between Nicky and Gordon Ryan? Drop your comments below.