Welcome to the BJJ Beat! On this recurring feature, we’ll tackle the biggest news from the professional grappling scene, and roll everything up in an easily digestible and familiar jiu-jitsu format.
Warm Ups
Payouts increased for ADCC 2026, but women’s purses still lag behind
The biggest news this week is ADCC increasing the payouts for their biennial world championships.
ADCC 2026 happens on September 12-14, 2026 in Poland, and the most prestigious no gi event has announced that their total event payout will now amount to $362,000, up from the $230,600 listed for previous years.
Prizes for men’s champions will get doubled to $20,000, while the winners of the absolute tournament and the super-fight title will each get $50,000.
ADCC’s payout breakdown is as follows:
The sport of jiu-jitsu has been rapidly growing, and purses for grappling stars have been steadily rising, especially as competition increases due to promotions like CJI and UFC BJJ entering the fold. ADCC improving their longstanding purses is definitely a positive and welcome development. At the same time, it also highlights how there’s still a lot of room for growth from the most prestigious event in the sport.
Despite female BJJ stars routinely being some of the biggest attractions at several high profile events, the purses, bracket sizes, and invited competitors in ADCC are still just half of the men’s. Female champions only get $10,000 for winning their division, while silver and bronze medalists receive $5,000 and $2,000, respectively. The total $362,000 prize money they listed for ADCC 2026 also only accounts for just one absolute tournament, which is almost assuredly for the men. So it’s still unclear if women will receive anything close to that $50,000 prize for an Absolute tournament, and how much they’ll actually go over that announced budget.
Adele Fornarino is the reigning absolute champion and double gold medalist from ADCC 2024.
It’s also worth noting that Craig Jones created CJI to rival ADCC in 2024, largely to protest the low pay ADCC athletes receive. Men’s champions used to get $10,000, so they made show money for CJI 1 amount to $10,001 for every athlete who competed.
Drills
More BJJ stars depart Atos after Andre Galvao scandal
After Andre Galvao was accused of sexual misconduct on his teenage students, there has been a mass exodus of gym affiliates, top BJJ athletes and students from his Atos team.
Atos HQ seemingly tried to do some damage control by trying to distance themselves from both Andre and his wife Angelica Galvao, who has been accused of covering up and silencing victims. Business filings obtained by MMA Mania showed that the company has been solely owned by Andre Galvao, and the PR statement doesn’t seem to be helping their cause much.
While longtime Atos star Ronaldo Junior didn’t have Galvao in his corner for his recent title defense at UFC BJJ 5, several other champions from the gym have publicly severed ties with both Atos and Galvao. After the initial wave of departures, several more BJJ stars have since followed suit, including the likes of reigning ADCC double champ Kaynan Duarte, six-time IBJJF world champ Lucas Barbosa, and Rolando Samson.
The list of previous BJJ stars and coaches who have cut ties include Andy Murasaki, Lucas Pinheiro, Josh Hinger, JT Torres, Gustavo Batista, Dom Bell, and Bruno Frazatto among others.
There are reports that Atos could try to continue with Andre Galvao’s teenage daughter Sarah Galvao as the head coach.
Move of the Day
2026 IBJJF No Gi Absolute GP to kick off with Featherweight champ vs. Light Heavyweight champ
The IBJJF will be hosting an Absolute Grand Prix tournament with some promising cross-division match ups. The 2026 No Gi Absolute GP happens this Thursday (February 26, 2026), in Costa Mesa, California, and will feature BJJ stars like Diego Pato, Pedro Marinho, Victor Hugo and Michael Pixley.
Interestingly enough, the number one ranked featherweight in Pato is being thrown in the deep end straight away. Pato, a six-time IBJJF world champion at 141 lbs, will face WNO light heavyweight champion Marinho in the opening round. The winner will face either Pixley or Gustavo Batista, while the likely tournament favorite in Hugo will be on the opposite side of the bracket.
The full fight card is below:
2026 IBJJF No Gi Absolute GP
Opening Round:
- Victor Hugo vs. Marlon Tajik
- Javier Barter vs. Nick Harman
- Pedro Marinho vs. Diego Pato
- Michael Pixley vs. Gustavo Batista
Undercard super fights:
- Cole Abate vs. Will Wilson (Gi)
- Helena Crevar vs. Aghata Rabelo (No Gi)
- Sarah Galvao vs. Maria Vicentini (Gi)
- Leonardo Souza vs. Mateo Cardona (Gi)
- Ashlee Funegra vs. Yasmyn Castro (Gi)
- Dominic Manno vs. Luan Veras (Gi)
- Kellyson Carlos vs. Evan Duncan (Gi)
- Natalee Funegra vs. Kaitlyn Schmidt (Gi)
- Johnny Anderson vs. Julio Cesar (Gi)
- JP Tran vs. Asafe Alves (Gi)
- Mick Whelan vs. Isaac Huertas (Gi)
Rolls
Another title bout added to UFC BJJ 7
Three title bouts were previously announced for UFC BJJ 6 and UFC BJJ 7, and now another one has been booked. A lightweight title defense has been added to UFC BJJ 7 on April 2, 2026, with inaugural champion Carlos Henrique defending his belt against two-time IBJJF no gi world champ Lucas Valente.
There will be at least two title bouts on the April 2 event, as this bout joins the featherweight title bout between Aurelie Le Vern and Brianna Ste-Marie.
Cooldown
WNO 32 to feature Lightweight Grand Prix
WNO 32 is set to crown a new lightweight champion, with the promotion announcing a four-man lightweight grand prix for the belt. Details and competitors have yet to be revealed but the event will happen on March 31, 2026 in Austin, Texas.
The announcement of this tournament crowning a new champion is interesting as Diego Pato currently holds the WNO titles at both featherweight and lightweight. He was previously set to defend his lightweight title in a rematch against Deandre Corbe, but it was scrapped from the WNO 31 card at the last minute.
Review
To close things out, here are other interesting BJJ stories you might have missed:
- Due to “unfixable” health issues, Gordon Ryan has officially announced his retirement
- Zabit Magomedsharipov is back! Kind of – The fan-favorite UFC star is ending his combat sports hiatus and will have a grappling super-fight.
- ADCC EMEA Trials just concluded with Eoghan O’Flanagan being the biggest winner
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