The roster for the 2022 ADCC World Championships is beginning to take shape, as three of the eight qualifying trials are now complete, and one more is coming in Brazil on Saturday, February 12.

ADCC officials have also been trickling out the names of the invitees over the last few months, including the expected returning champions: Gordon Ryan, JT Torres, Kaynan Duarte, Gabi Garcia, Felipe Pena and similar well-performing ADCC veterans.

They’ve also given us a few welcome surprises, such as Nicholas Meregali, who was announced last Friday.

While the divisions are far from finalized, three teams already appear prominently-represented on the list of invited and qualified athletes. Atos and New Wave Jiu-Jitsu have promising squads, and — after a standout performance at the most recent South American Trials — Fight Sports seems to be bringing an army to the 2022 ADCC World Championships.

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Fight Sports is now one of the most well-represented teams headed to the 2022 ADCC World Championships, as it pushed four athletes through to gold at the 1st South American ADCC Trials. The team brought a massive squad to the ADCC qualifier; 17 male athletes represented Fight Sports across the five divisions. 

All four of the Fight Sports athletes who made it to the final round won gold, while three more Fight Sports competitors made it to the semifinals, and each of them took third place in the consolation round. Five additional Fight Sports competitors made it to the quarterfinals before falling (often to teammates).

The Fight Sports representatives who podiumed at trials are:

• Diogo Reis (66 kg) — gold

• Micael Galvao (77 Kg) — Gold (more On Galvao below)

• Joao Costa (99 kg) — gold

• Roosevelt Sousa (over 99 kg) — gold

• Fabricio Andrey (66 kg) — bronze

• Andre Porfirio (88 kg) — bronze

• Viktor Doria (over 99 kg) — bronze

The lone athlete who qualified for ADCC with a gold medal at the trials representing a team other than Fight Sports was Isaque Bahiense of Dream Art, who defeated the former ADCC absolute champion, Claudio Calasans in the final. This was Bahiense’s fourth attempt at trials.

Diana Torquato and Rebecca Azevedo De Albuquerque also won gold in their respective divisions, but did not earn a berth at ADCC, as only the female winners of next weekend’s trials in Sao Paulo qualify for the World Championships.

Watch the full recap of the 1st ADCC South American Trials here.

Watch every division final here.

Mica Galvao Blasts Through Trials in 5 Minutes

It may not come as a surprise to astute grappling fans that Mica Galvao won the ADCC South American Trials. But the exceptional manner in which he earned his spot at ADCC can’t be overstated.

Galvao won each of his four matches via submission. No match went longer than two minutes. Galvao had a total mat time of 5 minutes 9 seconds, and no match ever reached the points period.

Catch up on every Mica Galvao match from trials here (it won’t take long).

Galvao has had an unreal submission percentage since the beginning of 2021. He’s 24-3 in that timespan with a 79% submission rate, including submission victories in 13 of his last 14 matches.

The Monster from Mauaus, Mica Galvao is just 18 years old, and will not turn 19 until after the September ADCC World Championships. That puts him in the running to break Kyra Gracie’s record as the youngest-ever ADCC Champion.

Division Favorites Slide In Late To IBJJF Euros

Registration for the 2022 IBJJF European Championships is now closed, and several key competitors waited until the last minute to throw their names in.

• 2020 European champ Isaac Doederlein is in at featherweight.

• 2019 European champ and two time World champ Paulo Miyao is in at light featherweight.

• 2017 Euros champ and seven time World champ Leandro Lo is in at medium heavyweight.

• 2021 World champ Tainan Dalpra is in at middleweight.

• 2021 World champ Gabi Pessanha is in at super heavyweight.

Still, the roster for Europeans is flooded with some key European athletes looking for victory on their home turf. Adam Wardzinski and Espen Mathiesen, for example, are trying to earn their first Euros golds at black belt. Ffion Davies will be looking to repeat her double gold performance in 2020. And Tommy Langaker will be looking to take control of the lightweight division in Europe once again; all the better if he can defeat the no.1 pound-for-pound Dalpra in his path.

Take a look at the 20 biggest European names registered for Euros.

Weekend Round-Up

Fight to Win 193

• Victor Hugo defeated Igor Schneider in the main event, controlling the action with attacks.
• Tracey Goodell defeated Patricia Machado with a collar choke.
• Giancarlo Bodoni defeated Felipe Costa via inside heel hook.
• Pierre-Olivier Leclerc defeated Kemoy Anderson via decision.
• Robert Degle defeated Angel Cruz via unanimous decision.

Copa Podio

• Leo Ferreira won the eight-man Purple Games at Copa Podio in Brazil this weekend.

• He was promoted to purple belt by Mario Reis in December 2021 after winning Worlds at blue belt.

IBJJF Oklahoma Open

• Mateus Rodrigues of Art Of Jiu-Jitsu won his black belt debut.

• Yuta Shimada defeated Lucas Pinheiro for featherweight gold.

• Pinheiro fought to second in the open class, losing to Davi Cabral in the final.

• Rayron Gracie won his second double-gold in as many weekends, remaining undefeated as a brown belt.

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IBJJF Sul-Brasileiros

• Gutemberg Pereira won the gi ultra heavyweight division

• Fellipe Andrew had two submissions before closing out in the absolute with Marcus Vinicius Ribeiro.

• Gabriela Fechter took gold in the gi featherweight division and the no-gi open class.

• Yan Paiva won gold in the gi medium heavyweight division, and won double gold in no-gi.

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