Jiu-Jitsu Weekly Roundup — August 2, 2026: Gregor Gracie Wins the Masters World Cup

Jiu-Jitsu Weekly Roundup · Sunday, August 2, 2026

The gi season is over, the elite no-gi crowd has gone quiet in training camp, and the sport is in that strange in-between stretch where the biggest news is about who is showing up in Krakow six weeks from now. That said, Brazil put on a genuinely fun show Friday night, and there is plenty on the calendar. Here is your week.

BJJ Stars 19: Gregor Gracie Wins the Masters World Cup GP

BJJ Stars ran its nineteenth event Friday, July 31, at Vibra Sao Paulo, and gave the whole thing a World Cup theme built around a sixteen-man Masters Grand Prix — with R$200,000 waiting for the winner. Gregor Gracie took it.

The Masters format is an underrated idea. Rather than pitting twenty-two-year-olds against each other in the same brackets we see every month, BJJ Stars put a field of established names with two decades of competition behind them into one bracket and let experience do the talking. If you have ever wondered whether the game you built in your twenties survives into your late thirties, this card was the argument. FloGrappling carried the event live and has the full results.

AOJ Sweeps IBJJF Kids Pans in Orlando

The IBJJF Kids Pans ran in Orlando, and Art of Jiu Jitsu walked away with the overall team title. The individual story worth pausing on: Icaro Moreno won his eighth Kids Pan gold medal in what is his final year of youth eligibility.

Eight Kids Pan titles is a decade of showing up. Whatever Moreno does at the adult level, that is a competitive habit that most people never build. FloGrappling covered it in this week's Grappling Bulletin.

ADCC 2026 Roster Watch: Taylor Pearman In at -77kg

The ADCC World Championship hits Tauron Arena in Krakow, Poland on September 12-13, and the roster is still moving. Taylor Pearman has been added to the -77kg division, replacing Izaak Michell, who was removed from the field. It will be Pearman's second ADCC Worlds after 2024, and he earned his way in the hard way — winning the European Trials in London with a 100 percent submission rate, finishing all six of his matches with leg locks.

The bigger storyline remains how many champions are sitting this one out. Kade Ruotolo, Giancarlo Bodoni, Diogo "Baby Shark" Reis, Mica Galvao, Ffion Davies, Beatriz Mesquita and Adele Fornarino are all absent from the 2026 roster. That is an unusual amount of open territory at a Worlds. The superfight, meanwhile, is a good one: three-time champion Yuri Simoes against reigning weight and absolute champion Kaynan Duarte, a rematch of their 2019 meeting. FloGrappling is maintaining the full invited-athlete list.

Werdum vs. dos Santos Grappling Trilogy Is Off

The heavyweight curiosity of the month is no longer happening. Former UFC champions Fabricio Werdum and Junior dos Santos were booked for a submission grappling meeting at Kings Championship on August 8 in Florianopolis — the third chapter of a rivalry that dos Santos won twice in MMA. Dos Santos has since withdrawn, without giving a reason, though he indicated he would still like the match at some point. Jits Magazine had the original booking.

A Quiet Month in the Rankings, and Why That Matters

Jits Magazine's July rankings update described the month as the quietest of the year so far, and the reason is structural rather than concerning: the gi season closed after IBJJF Worlds, the gi specialists are resting, and effectively every elite no-gi athlete is deep in an ADCC camp. The one meaningful move was Luis Humani, who scored a significant upset at the IBJJF No-Gi Brasileiro and entered the rankings at fourteen in his weight class. The full rankings update is here.

If you compete recreationally, this is actually the best window of the year to enter something. The pros are hiding in the gym. The local brackets are wide open.

Coming Up: Polaris Welterweight GP and WNO 31

The Polaris Welterweight Grand Prix is set for Sunday, August 30, at Sports Dock, University of East London — doors at 9:00am, first match at 10:00am. All Polaris events now stream on FloGrappling under the deal the two struck for 2026.

On the WNO side, WNO 31 heads to Round Rock, Texas, with Xande Ribeiro vs. Jordan Preisinger and Gabi Pessanha vs. Paige Ivette Clymer announced. Pessanha continues to be one of the hardest bookings in the sport for anyone in the promotion to solve.

On the Mats Near You: August Grassroots Calendar

Pulled from the SmoothComp upcoming events board, here is a sample of what is registering across the western US this month:

  • August 8 — Grappling Industries Fresno, CA
  • August 8 — Newbreed Lubbock Summer Championship, Lubbock, TX
  • August 15 — NAGA Albuquerque Grappling Championship, Albuquerque, NM
  • August 15 — NAGA Utah Championship, Gi & No-Gi, Farmington, UT
  • August 22 — The Pit Challenge, Salt Lake City, UT
  • August 22 — Velocity: Rolling in the Rockies, Eagle, CO
  • August 23 — Grappling Industries New Mexico, Rio Rancho, NM
  • August 23 — CompNet Southern California Summer Championship, Orange, CA
  • August 29 — Lake Arrowhead Jiu Jitsu Open, Lake Arrowhead, CA
  • August 30 — Los Angeles Jiu-Jitsu Championship, Los Angeles, CA

Check SmoothComp for registration deadlines — several of these close a week out.

Sources

Catch The Jiu Jitsu Mindset on YouTube and Spotify.

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