Jozef Chen wins second ADCC Trials gold in higher division – 2025 ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials results

Jozef Chen booked a spot at ADCC 2026 by winning his second ADCC Trials event at a higher division.

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What is the story about?

Sunday in Bangkok, Thailand, Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) star Jozef Chen moved up a weight class and still managed to win gold at the 2025 ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials. Going up from his usual 77 kg division, Chen dominated the field at 88 kg, where he notched two submissions against bigger men, and didn’t get a single point scored against him.

In the finals, Chen went up 12-0 before eventually submitting James Watson with a kimura in the final seconds of their match. With the victory, the Taiwanese BJJ

standout earned an invite to the ADCC 2026 World Championships, and is now a two-time ADCC Trials winner at just 21 years of age.

Prior to this event, Chen won two high profile team grappling tournaments, where he took gold at Polaris Squads, and helped B-Team win $1 million at CJI 2.

Chen likely moved up a division partly because his close friend Kenta Iwamoto also joined at the stacked 77 kg bracket. Three former ADCC Trials winners medaled in that division, with Iwamoto taking silver and losing a razor thin decision to gold medalist Izaak Michell. Last cycle’s 66 kg trials winner Xu Huaiqing took bronze after moving up to 77 kg this year.

Also winning their brackets and earning ADCC 2026 invites are Ryoma Anraku at 66 kg, Nicholac Maglicic at 99 kg, and Tito John Carle at +99 kg. Kanae Ikeda and Ju Chin Shih won gold in their divisions but didn’t earn invites, as slots for the women are only handed out in the second iteration of each regional trials event.

After the first three ADCC Trials events, there are now 15 officially confirmed invites to ADCC 2026 for the men’s tournament winners. More details and full results from every BJJ match at the 2025 ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials can be found here.