# Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu > Austin, United States ## Overview **Name:** Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu **Description:** Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu is a world-class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy in North Austin, Texas, led by three legendary figures in grappling: Gordon Ryan, John Danaher, and Garry Tonon. Established in 2025, Kingsway represents the fifth and most ambitious phase of this team's storied history, which began in a blue basement in New York City in 1994 and evolved through decades of innovation and championship success. The team has produced numerous ADCC World Champions and revolutionized modern grappling through their systematic approach to leg locks, back attacks, and no-gi jiu-jitsu. Gordon Ryan, widely regarded as the greatest no-gi grappler of all time, has won multiple ADCC double gold medals and is the only person in history to win ADCC in three separate weight classes. After retiring from competition, he now focuses on transitioning from champion athlete to world-class coach. John Danaher, a philosophy graduate from Columbia University, has spent three decades refining teaching methodologies and developing innovative approaches that have produced multiple world champions across MMA and grappling. His systematic, principle-based teaching philosophy emphasizes concepts over isolated techniques. Garry Tonon, a five-time EBI champion and accomplished MMA fighter, brings elite-level competition experience and a leg lock-heavy game that helped define modern grappling. Kingsway offers programs for all ages and skill levels, from kids ages 4-8 through professional athletes preparing for championship competition. The gym's teaching methodology focuses on systems-based thinking, structured progression, and deep conceptual understanding rather than random technique collection. Whether students train for self-defense, fitness, or championship competition, they receive world-class instruction grounded in proven methods that have reshaped the sport. The academy welcomes everyone in the Austin and North Austin community, including nearby areas like Cedar Park. **Status:** Active ## Contact Information **Address:** 13776 N Hwy 183 Austin, TX 78750, United States **Phone:** +1 737-226-1013 **Email:** admin@kingswayjiujitsu.com **Website:** https://kingswayjiujitsu.com/ **Social Media:** - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingsway_hq/ ## Instructors ### Gordon Ryan - Black **Role:** Head Instructor **Bio:** Gordon Ryan was born on the 8th of July, 1995 in Monroe, New Jersey – United States of America. Ryan’s introduction to jiu-jitsu was made by Miguel Benitez at the age of 15. His tuition would be taken over shortly after by the legendary Tom deBlass – one of New Jersey’s most prominent grapplers. Months after taking his first steps in the sport, as a four-stripe white belt, Gordon met Garry Tonon . Tonon had just received his brown belt at the time but was already regarded as one of the rising talents in the sport, and deBlass’ most accomplished student to date. The two grapplers became good friends and as Garry started coaching at the Brunswick BJJ academy, Gordon joined his classes, developing his technical abilities also under Tonon’s guidance. With Garry Tonon’s growing influence in Gordon’s grappling lifestyle, as a purple belt, Ryan started traveling to New York regularly to train with another one of Garry’s mentors – John Danaher . The Renzo Gracie Academy head coach and his methodology were also a big part of Ryan’s success, particularly in the submission-only jiu-jitsu circuit where Ryan’s potential star status was first noticed. After a stellar 6-month brown belt run, where Ryan won important tournaments such as the Newaza Challenge and the World Championship, Gordon was awarded his black belt by Garry Tonon (February 2016) in a ceremony supported by the presence of Tom deBlass, Ricardo Almeida . and Danaher – who shared the responsibility of the new belt rank. ADCC HISTORY On September 2022 Gordon Ryan competed at the ADCC World Championship, where he was set to challenge the promotion’s open weight (absolute) belt in a superfight against the belt holder, André Galvão. Unhappy with just competing in one match, Gordon requested to compete also in the +99 kilogram division, an unprecedented request given the prestige and cash prize on the title on the line in the super fight. The request was granted by the ADCC top promoter, Mo Jassim and Gordon Ryan went on to make history by being the first athlete to ever win the +99 kg gold medal and the open weight super fight belt of the ADCC in the same year. GORDON RYAN STOMACH CONDITION According to Ryan’s social media account (Instagram), after repeated use of antibiotics for a persistent staphylococcus infection (staph) in 2018, the athlete started suffering from stomach issues, which were first diagnosed as Gastroparesis, a condition that affects the stomach muscles and prevents proper stomach emptying. After suffering from this debilitating condition for nearly 4 years, in May 2021, Gordon officially retired from competition until further notice, explaining to his fans he could not maintain a high standard of training/performance due to his health, as reported by Bloody Elbow ( here ). In a later statement, in August 2021, Gordon Ryan posted on his IG account (@gordonlovesjiujitsu) that he had finally been correctly diagnosed by a gastroenterologist (unnamed) with “yeast and bacterial overgrowth” in his stomach. A condition that had started to affect his kidneys as well. In his post’s closing arguments, Ryan added: “ Once we can rebalance the microbiome in my stomach and replenish the bacteria needed to fight the yeast infection, I should be good to go. Fingers crossed we get it in order, which we should. ” DANAHER DEATH SQUAD BREAK-UP On July 2021, coach John Danaher announced the end of the Danaher Death Squad as a unified training and competition team, alluding to “ the physical location of a future school, personality conflicts, conflicting values and an inevitable tension between the team brand and the growing individual brands of members ” as the main factors for the split ( original statement here ). Later in that month, Gordon Ryan and John Danaher announced the name of their new team: New Wave Jiu-Jitsu. Although the squad lost a few key players at the time, such as Gordon’s brother, Nicky Ryan, Craig Jones, Ethan Crelinsten, and Nicky Rodriguez (all of which went on to form the “B-Team” workgroup), New Wave kept Garry Tonon and Oliver Taza from the remaining Danaher Death Squad. Cover photo by Nathalia Santoro. ### John Danaher - Black **Role:** Head Instructor **Bio:** John Danaher was born in 1967, in Washington, DC, United States of America, and is the son of New Zealand parents. John’s father was in the NZ military and was stationed in the USA for a short period in which Danaher was born. His parents returned to their home country with their son, and it was in New Zealand that Danaher spent his childhood and formative years, therefore he has dual citizenship (USA-NZ). Danaher started grappling late in life when compared to other successful black belts. He was 28 years old, with his initiation taking place in New York City while working his way through grad school (later finishing a Masters’s Degree in Philosophy at Columbia University). During this time, Danaher worked part-time as a club bouncer, while lifting weights to stay fit. He weighed around 250lbs (113kg) at the time of his first jiu-jitsu experience. Having seen how some of his bouncer colleagues handled fights on the job by using their grappling experience, John saw the potential those techniques carried for his own safety and decided to take a class. One of his friends already trained jiu-jitsu at the time and took Danaher to his first lesson. After the trial class, jiu-jitsu’s potential as a self-defense mechanism was even clearer to Danaher who believed it to be a good tool to fend off drunken degenerates at his doorman job. He had little or no real idea of how grappling worked at the time, in fact, he mentioned when interviewed by the “Renzo Gracie Cape Town” website that he didn’t have a very flattering perspective of wrestling: Acknowledging jiu-jitsu’s value helped John push through his training sessions, never truly enjoying it. It wasn’t until RGA was depleted from two of its most prominent instructors, Matt Serra and Ricardo Almeida that Danaher truly embraced the sport. Danaher was invited to coach and help replace the two aforementioned standouts, he was a purple belt at the time and took it upon himself to be the best instructor he could possibly be. Although he had no competitive experience, his highly inquisitive mind did not rest until he mastered the coaching aspect of BJJ. His obsession with grappling placed him on the mat 12-14 hours per day, Renzo Gracie said about Danaher’s behavior: “he [Danaher] does jiu-jitsu every day; we can’t get him out of here. I think he would come in on Christmas if we would let him.” His hard work paid off as Danaher received his black belt on April 2nd, 2002 together with his friend and training partner Shawn Williams . John Danaher is also known for his eccentric side, a self-diagnosed obsessive-compulsive JD seems to rarely leave his jiu-jitsu rash guard in the closet. In one episode of Matt Serra’s video blog for UFC 109, Serra told the story of how John Danaher had come to his wedding wearing a rash guard. In working at the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York, Danaher also helped the development of MMA fighters such as George St. Pierre, which shed some light on his persona to the broader spectrum of fans involved in cage combat, however, it would be his creative approach to the leg-locking game that gained him notoriety among the grappling community. His innovative system helped Danaher generate a group of outstanding pro-athletes such as Eddie Cummings, Gordon Ryan, Garry Tonon, Oliver Taza, Craig Jones, Nicky Ryan, to name a few. These competitors reached great success in submission-grappling and jiu-jitsu, while their outspoken personalities helped them amass a strong legion of fans – arguably the biggest following ever experienced in the sport – who labeled John’s workgroup as the “Danaher Death Squad” due to their efficacy when looking for submissions on the competitive arena. DANAHER DEATH SQUAD BREAK-UP On July 2021, coach John Danaher announced the end of the Danaher Death Squad as a unified training and competition team, alluding to “ the physical location of a future school, personality conflicts, conflicting values and an inevitable tension between the team brand and the growing individual brands of members ” as the main factors for the split ( original statement here ). Later that month, John and his student Gordon Ryan announced the name of their new team: New Wave Jiu-Jitsu. Although the squad lost a few key players at the time, such as Gordon’s brother, Nicky Ryan, Craig Jones, Ethan Crelinsten, and Nicky Rodriguez (all of whom went on to form the “B-Team” workgroup), New Wave kept Garry Tonon and Oliver Taza from the remaining Danaher Death Squad. John Danaher “Understanding Jiu-Jitsu” ### Garry Tonon - Black **Role:** Instructor **Bio:** Garry Tonon was born on the 12th of September, 1991 in New Jersey – USA, where he initiated his grappling career during 5th grade. Wrestling being the sport he followed and competed in for 5 years, from 5th to 9th grade. At the age of 14, one of Garry’s close friends took him to a local jiu-jitsu tournament. He became increasingly interested in the sport and decided to start attending jiu-jitsu classes at his friend’s gym. The academy was geared up for mixed martial arts (MMA), having just three grappling classes per week. Although Tonon enjoyed the training, he wanted to focus on the sporting facet of BJJ and ended up leaving after 6 months. A few weeks later leaving the MMA gym, Garry found a leaflet for the Ocean County Jiu-Jitsu academy. OCBJJ was located near his New Jersey home, making perfect sense to pick up where he had left off. The school had just opened its doors, but Tonon fell instantly in love with the methodology of coach Tom deBlass , becoming a very devoted student while taking 2 classes per day on a regular basis. After one year working his grappling solely at Ocean County, Tom deBlass started bringing Tonon with him to Ricardo Almeida ‘s training sessions (deBlass’ coach) once per week. This symbiosis between Ocean County and Almeida’s academies paid dividends with Tonon earning his first international title at the 2008 World Championships, in the Blue Belt Juvenile Division. While juggling between his Exercise Science course at Rutgers University and maintaining a high-level jiu-jitsu career in his late teens, Tonon earned important titles, particularly in No-Gi competitions. Tonon maintained a solid gi focused training for the first 5 years of his grappling career, though his competitive success drove him towards no-gi. After seeing the success of Eddie Cummings in competition he sought John Danaher (Cummings’ coach) to specialize in this facet of grappling, in New York – where he gained an interest in heel hooks and lower limb attacks, this way starting the “Danaher Death Squad”. A name that started circulating thanks to Tonon and Cummings’ success in the sub only circuit. In mid-September, 2013 long-time coaches Tom deBlass and Ricardo Almeida awarded Tonon his black belt in jiu-jitsu. Cover photo by Hywel Teague of BJJ Hacks . [fighter_status id=553] Garry Tonon vs Javi Vazquez (2015) Garry Tonon vs Aaron Buck (2014) Garry Tonon featured on BJJ Hacks Garry Tonon featurd on BJJ Scout Garry Tonon highlight ## Programs ### Kids BJJ (Ages 4-8) **Skill Level:** All Levels **Age Group:** kids **Gi Requirement:** Gi required **Description:** Structured kids program focusing on functional skills, safety, and long-term development. World-class instruction teaching BJJ as a true martial art with emphasis on technique, problem-solving, and self-defense. ### Kids BJJ (Ages 4-8) **Skill Level:** All Levels **Age Group:** kids **Gi Requirement:** Gi required **Description:** Structured kids program focusing on functional skills, safety, and long-term development. World-class instruction teaching BJJ as a true martial art with emphasis on technique, problem-solving, and self-defense. **Classes:** ### Teens BJJ (Ages 9-15) **Skill Level:** All Levels **Age Group:** kids **Gi Requirement:** Gi required **Description:** Teen program building complete understanding of position connections and intelligent problem-solving under pressure. Elite-level instruction focused on developing true competence, physical conditioning, and mental resilience. **Classes:** ### Beginner Program **Skill Level:** Beginner **Age Group:** adults **Gi Requirement:** Gi required **Description:** White to blue belt program creating a strong foundation through five major themes: safety, body movement control, conceptual understanding, rational skill progression, and mechanical efficiency. Conducted in the gi. **Classes:** ### Advanced Gi **Skill Level:** Advanced **Age Group:** adults **Gi Requirement:** Gi required **Description:** Advanced gi program focusing on systems-based thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving. Emphasis on standing grappling skills and building a complete skill set for gi competition. **Classes:** ### Advanced No-Gi **Skill Level:** Advanced **Age Group:** adults **Gi Requirement:** No-Gi **Description:** Advanced no-gi program utilizing the team's pioneering systems-based approach. Focus on decision-making, problem-solving, and the specific skills required to excel in no-gi grappling and submission-only competition. **Classes:** ### Pro Session **Skill Level:** Advanced **Age Group:** adults **Gi Requirement:** No-Gi **Description:** Professional athlete class for those preparing for professional competition. Train alongside some of the leading figures in the sport with high standards and expectations. Offered daily. **Classes:** --- **Last Updated:** March 10, 2026 **Data Source:** BJJ.Space (https://bjj.space/gyms/united-states/texas/austin/kingsway-jiu-jitsu)