Ryan Ferguson

Ryan Ferguson began his Jiu-Jitsu journey in 2022. When he started, Ryan's goal was to become so proficient in the fundamentals of Jiu-Jitsu that they became second nature. Shortly after receiving the second stripe on his white belt, Ryan realized how tall of an order this is and is still working on this goal today!

Ryan has a love/hate relationship with competitions. Ryan loves the comradery of having a group together supporting each other, and seeing his training partners and himself tested against competitors from other academies when everyone is playing to win. "I'm not a fan of points because too many competitors build a comfortable point lead and move just enough to avoid stalling penalties. When I compete I want my opponent to come at me with their best submissions, not their best point strategies." A self-identifying submission hunter, Ryan would prefer a submission only tournament instead of a conventional competition with points. 

With an analytical mind, Ryan was often sought out as a training partner helping to identify where hang-ups were when a technique went wrong, or modifications when a person's mobility or body made the technique as prescribed difficult. On top of that, Ryan wouldn't move on from a drill until the technique was just right, "If I tap on a technique that isn't effective, I'm doing my training partner a disservice. I want my training partners to have fantastic technique and be deadly on the mat."

In 2025, Jeremiah approached Ryan about ideas on starting kids classes. Ryan took this and ran with it, creating the Mat Monsters curriculum and building out the curriculum. While a bit older than the kids, Ryan is still a kid at heart and takes great pride in seeing the improvements of his students and loves to sell when his younger students are applying a technique on him. "Children learn best from a place of joy. And while we deal with self-defense and bullies, it's important that we keep it fun and playful. It doesn't matter if it's the best instruction in the world, if a child doesn't enjoy doing Jiu-Jitsu, they won't stick with it. It's my goal that the kids love it so much that they're disappointed when they can't make class." 

Ryan earned his Blue Belt in January of 2024. "Every time I tie on my Blue Belt, I still feel like a White Belt, with so much to learn. My goal is to get better on at least one thing every time I step on the mat."