ADCC has announced that transgender athletes must compete in the division that they were assigned at birth. This decision is certainly not unreasonable given that submission grappling has a very strong reliance on athleticism and strength, with also the ability to slam out of a position such as a triangle or armbar if you are under threat of submission.
As a result of these very real dangers of an extreme strength and size mismatch, ADCC has outlined the 3 main points surrounding their events below:
- Biological Sex Classification: Athletes are required to register and compete in the division corresponding to their biological sex as assigned at birth.
- No Exceptions: ADCC’s policy does not allow exceptions to the biological sex classification.
- Enforcement: Any violation or attempt to circumvent this policy will result in severe consequences, including a lengthy suspension or possible lifetime ban from all ADCC-sanctioned events.
Critics of the policy have argued that this would be difficult to enforce at events – which may be somewhat true. However, in the information age, it wouldn’t be too difficult for the truth to come out eventually if someone had unfairly competed in a different category.
Furthermore, Redditors had complained that ADCC was stricter on transgender athletes than doping. While this also may be true, anti-doping is extremely expensive, with some sources claiming that it costs in the region of $40k per year per fighter – not something that is realistic given the current state of grappling popularity.
Lastly, anti-doping often comes down to who has the most sophisticated drugs and procedures to game the system and does not necessarily make for a level playing field.
