The ADCC World Championship has always billed itself as the sport’s true world stage, and the 2026 edition backs that up. On September 12–13, the best no-gi grapplers on the planet touch down at Tauron Arena in Krakow, Poland, the first time in nearly a decade that ADCC has left North America. With Gordon Ryan’s apparent retirement leaving the marquee slot empty, the superfight now headlines Kaynan Duarte against Yuri Simoes, two of the last two absolute champions.
But behind the star power, one of the more interesting stories of ADCC 2026 is the passports. Brazil’s grip on the sport is obvious the moment you scan the brackets, but this year’s roster also shows real depth building outside the usual BJJ powerhouses, a host-nation bump for Poland, a UK contingent with real teeth, and single representatives flying the flag for countries like Ghana, Peru, Finland, and Taiwan.
Here’s the roster broken down by nation, division by division, based on the most recently confirmed invite and trials lists.
A note on the numbers: ADCC releases invites in waves, and a couple of divisions (most notably men’s -99 kg) still have a handful of slots pending as of this writing, on top of a couple of last-minute roster shakeups already this year — Izaak Michell’s removal from -77 kg (replaced by Britain’s Taylor Pearman) and Adele Fornarino’s withdrawal from -55 kg for a UFC BJJ booking (replaced by trials runner-up Valerie Wong Hamilton).
The Country Breakdown
🇧🇷 Brazil — the deepest bench, by a mile
Brazil is, unsurprisingly, still the sport’s center of gravity. Reigning champs Mica Galvão (-77 kg), Kaynan Duarte (-99 kg), and Felipe Pena (+99 kg) all return to defend, and Brazilian grapplers fill out nearly every bracket top to bottom — from Diogo Reis at -66 kg down through the women’s divisions with Ana Carolina Vieira, Rafaela Guedes, and a returning Gabi Garcia at +65 kg. Brazil is the only country with meaningful representation in all eight weight classes, men’s and women’s alike.
🇺🇸 United States — the clear second power
The U.S. isn’t far behind in sheer numbers, anchored by Giancarlo Bodoni’s title defense at -88 kg. American grapplers show up everywhere from -66 kg (Dorian Olivarez, Gianni Grippo) through the heavyweight ranks (Brandon Reed, Nick Hartman), and the West Coast and East Coast trials circuits keep feeding fresh faces into the bracket every cycle.
🇬🇧 Great Britain — punching above its weight
A smaller contingent, but a loud one. Declan Moody and Eoghan O’Flanagan both qualified through Europe Trials at -99 kg, Mark Macqueen represents at +99 kg, and Taylor Pearman’s late add at -77 kg (stepping in for Izaak Michell) rounds out one of Britain’s strongest ADCC showings in years. Injana Goodman also flies the flag in the women’s -65 kg bracket.
🇵🇱 Poland — the host nation gets a lift
With the event on home mats in Krakow, Poland’s presence is notably up: Nikodem Mikuliszyn (-66 kg), Pawel Jaworski (-88 kg), and Adam Wardzinski (-99 kg) all qualified on merit, while former UFC lightweight Mateusz Gamrot and Polaris champion Mateusz Szczeciński were added at -77 kg on invite. Expect the loudest crowd reactions of the weekend to be in Polish.
🇷🇺 Russia — quietly stacked at the lighter weights
Russia doesn’t have the volume of Brazil or the U.S., but its representatives are dangerous: Magomed Dzharbaev and Nikolay Vetrov both qualified at -77 kg, and Ruslan Abdulaev rounds things out at +99 kg.
🇦🇺 Australia — smaller number, big names
Nicholas Maglicic (-99 kg), Tito John Carle, and Josh Saunders (+99 kg) keep Australia on the board, even after the -77 kg trials winner was removed from the roster this year.
🇪🇸 Spain — a women’s division specialty
Spain’s presence this cycle is entirely on the women’s side, with Ana Mayordomo (-55 kg) and Anabel Lopez (+65 kg) both earning invites.
Single-representative nations
A handful of countries have exactly one grappler carrying the flag alone — often the most fun storylines to follow, since a single loss ends the whole country’s tournament:
- 🇯🇵 Japan — Ryoma Anraku (-66 kg)
- 🇹🇷 Turkey — Yigit Hanay (-66 kg)
- 🇹🇼 Taiwan — Jozef Chen (-88 kg)
- 🇸🇪 Sweden — Marlon Tajik (-88 kg)
- 🇫🇮 Finland — Santeri Lilius (-88 kg)
- 🇵🇪 Peru — Franco Diaz (-88 kg)
- 🇬🇭 Ghana — Haisam Rida (+99 kg)
- 🇷🇴 Romania — Dan Manisoiu (+99 kg)
- 🇩🇪 Germany — Janette Gloger (women’s -55 kg)
- 🇨🇦 Canada — Dante Leon (-77 kg)
- 🇳🇴 Norway — Tommy Langaker (-77 kg)
What the map tells us
A few things stand out when you zoom out:
Brazil and the U.S. together account for roughly two-thirds of the confirmed field. That’s nothing new for ADCC, but it’s a reminder that the sport’s competitive base is still heavily concentrated in two countries, even as the event itself goes global.
The regional trials system is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Look at where the non-Brazilian, non-American names are coming from — Europe Trials winners like Mikuliszyn, Dzharbaev, and Hanay wouldn’t necessarily have gotten invites in the old “who do you know” era of ADCC qualification. The trials pipeline is visibly diversifying the bracket year over year.
Hosting matters. Poland’s bump in representation lines up neatly with Krakow getting the event — a pattern worth watching if ADCC continues rotating host countries going forward.
Women’s divisions remain smaller but no less international. With only three eight-woman brackets compared to five sixteen-man brackets, the ratio of countries-to-athletes is actually higher on the women’s side — Brazil, the U.S., Britain, Spain, and Germany all get represented despite roughly a third of the total roster spots.
As the final -99 kg invites get locked in and fight week approaches, this breakdown will keep shifting slightly — but the overall shape of it, Brazil and the U.S. up front with a genuinely global supporting cast behind them, is a fair picture of where no-gi grappling’s biggest stage stands heading into Krakow.
Roster details current as of late July 2026, compiled from ADCC’s official invite list and trials results. A few late invites, particularly in the men’s -99 kg division, remain pending confirmation.
A freelance journalist with more than seven years of experience covering a wide range of topics, with a focus on delivering accurate, engaging, and well-researched reporting. He studied at the University of Birmingham, where he developed a strong foundation in journalism and communications. Martin is a 10th Planet BJJ brown belt and has been training for approximately 10 years and a keen follower of submission grappling.
