Gordon Ryan Reflects on Receiving Blackbelt From Garry Tonon

At just 20 years old with only six months at brown belt Gordon Ryan became Garry Tonon's first ever student promoted to black belt. Check out the video above to hear Gordon talk about the day he received his black belt and what's next for the newly minted competitor.

"I was only a brown belt for a short time, 6 months. Brown belt is where I started winning a lot, Newaza Challenge, No-Gi Worlds, a lot of super fights. I was happy with my accomplishments at brown belt. I'm looking forward to causing ruckus in the black belt division now."

"I knew maybe a week before (I was getting my blackbelt). I was planning to do the EBI trials in Rio, and you had to be a black belt to enter. So I knew I was getting it before the events came up. When I got it there were 150+ people there. John Danaher came down, we had 15 black belts there. I had to give a black belt speech. I was probably more nervous giving the speech than I was for any competition."

"2016, I want to win a lot of black belt divisions. I want to get matches with big names if possible. I won No-Gi Worlds at brown belt but I feel like I haven't beaten anyone really super high level. I want to experience what it's like to compete against some guys that are really high level. Also I want to win the next ADCC trials when they come around. That my goal for awhile. I lost both trials in 2015. After the next ADCC I'll probably start fighting [MMA]."