Jiu-Jitsu Weekly Roundup — September 21, 2026: The Week After Krakow

Jiu-Jitsu Weekly Roundup · Monday, September 21, 2026

The week belonged to the aftermath of ADCC. With the Krakow dust settled, the sport spent seven days counting records, processing two retirements and arguing about the calls — and now the mats get busy again immediately, starting Thursday.

ADCC 2026: what Krakow actually produced

The 16th ADCC World Championship, held September 12-13 in Krakow, crowned eight weight-class champions plus an absolute winner. Kennedy Maciel (-66kg), Magomed Dzharbaev (-77kg), Pawel Jaworski (-88kg), Luke Griffith (-99kg) and Victor Hugo (+99kg) took the men's titles; Jasmine Rocha (-60kg), Ana Carolina Vieira (-65kg) and Helena Crevar (+65kg) took the women's. Felipe Pena won the absolute.

Europe posted its strongest showing ever with eight medals, two of them gold, behind South America's nine. Of the 103 weight-class matches, 48.5% ended in submission, with rear-naked chokes from back control the most common finish by a wide margin. BJJ Heroes has the full bracket breakdown, and FloGrappling's results hub carries the match-by-match video.

The records that fell

Helena Crevar, 19, became the youngest female ADCC world champion in history and the first woman to win every one of her matches by submission. Her Kingsway teammate Joslyn Molina, just 14, reached the semifinals and beat Morgan Black for bronze at -65kg — the youngest medalist in ADCC history, and the youngest competitor ever at the event by a two-year margin.

Pawel Jaworski became the first men's European champion in 23 years, since Jon Olav Einemo in 2003, and did it in front of a home crowd playing almost exclusively from the bottom. Kennedy Maciel became the first son of an ADCC champion to win the same title his father did — Rubens "Cobrinha" Maciel took -66kg gold in 2013, 2015 and 2017. Marlon Tajik's -88kg silver made him Sweden's first ADCC medalist.

And Felipe Pena, fighting on a badly injured foot after falling short in his weight-class semifinal, came back to win the absolute and became the first athlete in ADCC history to win the open weight twice, finishing Roosevelt Sousa by rear-naked choke in the final.

The superfight, and two retirements

Yuri Simoes was named superfight champion after defeating Kaynan Duarte in overtime, in a match that ended with a shoulder injury for Duarte. Duarte's weekend did not improve from there — he was submitted by Luke Griffith in the -99kg final.

Two of the sport's veterans stepped away. Victor Hugo, after finally winning the gold he had chased for more than a decade — four matches, four submissions, all from guard — announced his retirement from championship competition in his post-match speech. And Vagner Rocha, 44, retired from ADCC competition following his loss to Dzharbaev. FloGrappling's Grappling Bulletin ran through the full fallout last Tuesday.

UFC BJJ 11 headlines a loaded Thursday

The competition calendar restarts almost immediately. UFC BJJ 11: Musumeci vs. Mitchell runs Thursday, September 24 from the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, streaming on UFC Fight Pass at 8 p.m. ET. Bantamweight champion Mikey Musumeci meets UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell in a featherweight show match, and light heavyweight champion Mason Fowler defends against Nick Rodriguez in a rematch. Aurelie Le Vern vs. Rana Willink and Seve Zazueta vs. Mason Stritzel round out the notable pairings.

Six events on FloGrappling this weekend

FloGrappling has a stacked Friday-to-Sunday slate, per its weekly streaming guide:

  • Friday, Sept. 25 — 2026 IBJJF Sul Americano Championship (8:30 a.m. ET); Fight to Win 326 (5 p.m. ET)
  • Saturday, Sept. 26 — ADCC Petropolis Open and ADCC Montreal Open (both 8 a.m. ET); Elevate Submission Series 28 (1 p.m. ET); LIJJN Team Series CT 3 (4 p.m. ET)
  • Sunday, Sept. 27 — IBJJF Sul Americano continues

Further out, the IBJJF continues filling out The Crown 2026, its gi showcase set for November 8 in Long Beach. Eighteen of the 48 scheduled athletes have been confirmed so far, with new names added last Wednesday and again this morning.

On the grassroots calendar

A scan of SmoothComp's upcoming events shows how busy the next two weekends are for everyone not competing on a stream. This Saturday, September 26 alone: the NAGA Phoenix Grappling Championship, Tucson Open XI, CompNet USA National Championship in Albuquerque, the Women's Open 4 Jiu-Jitsu Tournament in Covina, BJJ Tour California in Fremont, Oregon Open in Salem, FUJI BJJ Minnesota Fall Championships, Grappling Industries Cleveland, NAGA Pittsburgh, Newbreed Pensacola and Charleston, and United Grappling Charlotte.

Looking ahead: the FUJI BJJ World Championship lands in Fishers, Indiana on October 10-11; NAGA World hits Los Angeles October 10; and the ADCC US Open series continues with Austin on November 14 and Louisville on December 5. Over in Europe, BJJ Summer Week wrapped its 11th edition in Sardinia last week, hosting over a thousand grapplers.

Sources

Catch The Jiu Jitsu Mindset on YouTube and Spotify.

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