ADCC Worlds 2026 Recap | Pena Makes History and the Stories You Need to Know

Two days at Tauron Arena on September 12 and 13 produced nine champions, a superfight decided by injury and podiums from nine countries, the most in ADCC history. Every podium, final and bracket is on our ADCC World Championship 2026 results page.

Champions at a glance

The stories you need to know

Felipe Pena becomes the first two time absolute champion

Pena lost his +99kg semifinal to Josh Saunders and hurt his foot badly enough that he skipped the bronze match, which gave Mark MacQueen the bronze. He came back for the absolute anyway and beat Francis Pana, Eoghan O'Flanagan and Ruslan Abdulaev before choking out Roosevelt Sousa at 10:03 of the final. According to USADA, Sousa accepted a three year sanction for meldonium in April. It runs through January 2029, covers IBJJF events and events held under the World Anti-Doping Code, and disqualified his IBJJF results from December 13, 2025 on.

With it he became the first champion in ADCC history to win the absolute division twice.

Helena Crevar wins +65kg at 19

Crevar submitted all three of her opponents: Matilda Reid with a rear naked choke, Elizabeth Mitrovic with a straight ankle lock, and Ana Lopez Beard with a choke at 6:04 of the final. At 19 she is the youngest woman ever to win an ADCC title, passing Kyra Gracie, who won hers one day before her 20th birthday. She also won medium heavy at the 2025 IBJJF No-Gi World Championship.

Joslyn Molina, 14, becomes the youngest ADCC medalist ever

Joslyn Molina, the youngest athlete ever invited to ADCC Worlds, beat Injana Goodman in the -65kg quarterfinals, lost her semifinal to Sarah Galvão, then beat Morgan Black 6-0 for bronze. At 14 she is the youngest medalist in ADCC World Championship history. The record she broke belonged to Helena Crevar, who took silver at 17 in 2024 and won gold at +65kg this time.

Pawel Jaworski wins Poland's first ADCC gold, at home

Seeded eighth at -88kg and in his ADCC debut, Jaworski leg locked his way to the final. He finished Roberto Dib Frias with an ankle lock, the No. 1 seed Felipe Costa in 3:55 and Gabriel Brod with an inside heel hook, then beat Sweden's Marlon Tajik on a single penalty after a 0-0 final in front of the Kraków crowd. In IBJJF competition he won medium heavy and the open class at the 2026 Brasileiro No-Gi, and medium heavy at the 2025 No-Gi World, Pan No-Gi and European No-Gi Championships.

Luke Griffith submits the top seed for -99kg gold

Griffith beat Marcin Maciulewicz, Steffen Banta and Achilles Rocha, then turned a Kaynan Duarte takedown attempt into a back take with five minutes left in regulation and finished the rear naked choke at 14:47. He is the first South African to win ADCC gold since Penny Thomas in 2007.

Yuri Simões wins the superfight when Duarte's shoulder gives out

On the same day he lost the -99kg final, Duarte faced Simões in the superfight. Duarte hurt his shoulder three minutes into overtime, and ADCC recorded the win for Simões by injury stoppage at 22:26. It is Simões' fourth ADCC title after -88kg in 2015, -99kg in 2017 and the absolute in 2022.

Victor Hugo finishes everyone, then retires from brackets

Hugo submitted all four of his opponents at +99kg: Heikki Jussila, Ruslan Abdulaev, Mark MacQueen and, in the final, Josh Saunders with an armlock from a rear mount triangle at 8:49. Afterward he announced his retirement from ADCC championships, while leaving the door open to future superfights. He won ultra heavy at the IBJJF World Championship in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and the open class in 2023.

Dzharbaev ends Vagner Rocha's ADCC career and wins a 40 minute final

Magomed Dzharbaev, a trials winner, beat Alexandre de Jesus, then the No. 1 seed Vagner Rocha on a 0-0 referee decision in the quarterfinals. Rocha announced his retirement from ADCC after the match, ending a run of four World Championship medals: bronze in 2017 and 2022, silver in 2019 and 2024. Dzharbaev went on to beat Mateusz Szczecinski and then PJ Barch in a final that stayed scoreless through regulation and two overtimes. He is the second Russian to win an ADCC title and the first since 1999.

Jasmine Rocha wins her family's first gold

The same weekend her father retired, Jasmine Rocha won -55kg by submitting Kanae Ikeda, Ana Mayordomo and, in overtime of the final, Anna Rodrigues with a rear naked choke at 25:09. She is the first of the family's three ADCC veterans to win gold, and her brother Achilles finished fourth at -99kg.

Kennedy Maciel completes the first father and son ADCC golds

Maciel beat Kamil Wilk, Fabricio Andrey and the No. 1 seed Diego Pato, then submitted Gavin Corbe at 28:41 in overtime of the -66kg final. His father, Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles, is also an ADCC champion, making them the first father and son to both win ADCC gold. Corbe reached the final in his debut as a late replacement, beating Nikodem Mikuliszyn, Ryoma Anraku and Dominic Mejia. Pato, who took bronze, has won light feather at each of the last four IBJJF World Championships, in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Ana Carolina Vieira repeats at -65kg

The defending champion beat Nadia Frankland and Morgan Black, then outlasted Sarah Galvão, a 20 year old trials winner in her debut, with a choke at 32:29 in the second overtime, the longest final of the weekend. Vieira is the first woman to repeat as champion in the same division since Gabi Garcia in 2017 and 2019. At the IBJJF World Championship, Vieira won middleweight in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and medium heavy in 2021 and 2022.

Three No. 2 seeds go down

Ryoma Anraku, seeded 15th, beat the No. 2 seed Owen Jones on a decision after overtime at -66kg. Ana Lopez Beard, seeded sixth, beat the No. 2 seed Gabrieli Pessanha the same way on her way to +65kg silver. Mark MacQueen beat the No. 2 seed Daniel Manasoiu at +99kg, and in the absolute the -77kg Elijah Dorsey took Manasoiu down in overtime to win. Ana Mayordomo took -55kg bronze by submitting Mayssa Bastos in overtime.

Trials qualifiers crash the bracket

Daniel Schuardt, a trials qualifier seeded 13th, submitted Michael Pixley and Eoghan O'Flanagan and won -99kg bronze over Achilles Rocha. Jacob Bornemann beat Oliver Taza and Dante Leon to reach the -77kg semifinals, and Nathan Haddad beat Gustavo Batista at -88kg.

A disqualification at -66kg

Dorian Olivarez and Bekzat Kapashov were both disqualified after their opening match, and Owen Jones took their place in the quarterfinals, where he lost to Dominic Mejia.

More to watch

Day one's best submissions, Achilles Rocha's match with Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu, and Kaynan Duarte's -99kg semifinal against Daniel Schuardt.

Every video in this post comes from the official YouTube channels of FloGrappling and FloGrappling Brasil.

What comes next

As absolute champion, Pena is in line for the 2028 superfight against Simões. ADCC has not yet announced the host city, dates or trials schedule for the next World Championship. Until then, every upcoming IBJJF, ADCC and pro event is on the calendar.

Full results

Every podium, every final and the full brackets are on the ADCC World Championship 2026 results page, taken from ADCC's official results.