Landon Elmore

Landon Elmore trains at Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu in Austin, Texas — the facility formerly known as New Wave Jiu-Jitsu and now home to one of the sport's most accomplished coaching staffs. Working directly under John Danaher alongside Gordon Ryan and Garry Tonon, Elmore has been immersed in the Danaher system at a formative stage of his competitive development. Few competitors his age have had access to coaching of this caliber, and the influence of that environment is evident in both his technical identity and his competitive approach.

Elmore represents the next generation of grapplers emerging from the Danaher training ecosystem — carrying forward a methodology that has produced some of the most dominant submission grapplers in the sport's history.

Elmore competes with a heavily leg-lock oriented game built around K-Guard entries, a positional framework designed to funnel opponents into lower-body entanglement and create consistent submission opportunities. Heel hooks serve as his primary finishing weapon, reflecting the core of the Danaher leg-lock curriculum refined at Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu over years of high-level development.

His approach prioritizes positional security before committing to finishes — a hallmark of the Danaher philosophy — rather than relying on points or advantages to win. Ankle locks round out his finishing arsenal, demonstrating range and adaptability across the leg-lock spectrum. Following his performance at EBI 25 in September 2025, Gordon Ryan publicly praised Elmore's technical execution, a notable endorsement from one of the sport's most scrutinizing and accomplished competitors.

Elmore announced himself on the international grappling stage with a dominant run at EBI 25 on September 12, 2025, in San Antonio, Texas — winning the lightweight championship and the accompanying $20,000 prize at just 19 years old. He submitted all four opponents in regulation, demonstrating the efficiency and reliability of his leg-lock system against a competitive field.

Semifinal Finish Against Bryce Mitchell

The tournament's most high-profile moment came in the semifinal, where Elmore submitted UFC bantamweight contender Bryce Mitchell in under one minute. Mitchell had advanced through the quarterfinal stage before meeting Elmore, making the speed and decisiveness of the finish all the more striking. The result underscored Elmore's capacity to execute against athletes with elite combat sports credentials.

Final Victory and Championship

In the final, Elmore defeated Keith Krikorian via ankle lock to claim the championship — capping a tournament run in which every opponent was finished before the clock expired. The victory established Elmore as one of the more compelling young competitors in submission grappling and drew immediate recognition from within the sport, most notably Gordon Ryan's public acknowledgment of his technical execution following the event.