Izaak Michell had stayed on the official ADCC 2026 competitor list for months despite an active Texas warrant. The promotion pulled his name without comment and slotted in a Polaris regular instead.
Reviewed by BJJ Gyms · Updated 2026-07-27
Figures reflect reporting from BJJ Eastern Europe and Yahoo Sports on ADCC's 2026 roster update.
There was no press release, no statement from the promotion, just an updated roster page with Izaak Michell's name gone from the 77kg bracket. ADCC has a habit of handling sensitive roster changes this way, and this one had been building for months, ever since the allegations against Michell first became public.
The timing lands in the same stretch where ADCC has already reshuffled its 2026 field once, after double gold medalist Adele Fornarino left to compete in UFC BJJ's new flyweight tournament instead. Between an exclusive-contract departure and a controversy-driven removal, the roster heading into September's Krakow event looks noticeably different from the one first announced.
Michell faces an active warrant out of the Hays County Sheriff's Office in Texas, with a second warrant issued in February 2026 for assault by contact of a sexual nature. Separately, several women in Australia have gone to authorities with their own claims that Michell behaved inappropriately toward them. He has denied all accusations, and it is worth being precise here: he has not been convicted of any crime, and international extradition issues have so far kept the warrants from being resolved.
What made the situation notable wasn't just the allegations themselves but how long ADCC let it sit. Several high-profile BJJ athletes publicly criticized the promotion for keeping a competitor with outstanding warrants on its invite list for months, arguing that a stage as big as the ADCC World Championship comes with some responsibility to vet who gets to stand on it.
Taylor Pearman is a British no-gi competitor best known for his work in Polaris' team grappling events, and he previously won an ADCC Trials tournament, the regional qualifying path that earns grapplers a direct invite to Worlds. That win already established him as a legitimate threat in his weight class, even before this unexpected opening.
For a competitor at Pearman's level, a late call-up into a vacated spot at the sport's most prestigious event is a real opportunity, the kind that does not come around often outside of exactly this sort of last-minute reshuffle.
A tournament's credibility rests partly on who it chooses to platform, and a wanted-persons situation lingering unaddressed for months is not a good look for a promotion trying to position itself as the top of the sport. Whether ADCC's silence on the change was a deliberate choice or simple discomfort with the topic, the outcome is the same: the roster is cleaner now than it was a week ago.
It's also a reminder for anyone training or coaching that the standards a sport holds its biggest stars to eventually filter down to the gym floor. Programs that take conduct seriously, not just skill, tend to be the ones worth building a training home around. If that matters to you when picking a school, use the gym finder here to find one near you.
Here is the situation broken down into the parts that matter most, without the noise.
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ADCC has not given an official reason, but the removal follows months of public criticism over Michell remaining on the roster despite an active Texas warrant for assault by contact of a sexual nature.
No. He faces active warrants and has denied all allegations, but he has not been convicted, and unresolved extradition issues have kept the legal process from moving forward.
A British no-gi grappler known for competing in Polaris team grappling events and for winning a prior ADCC Trials tournament, which now earns him a direct slot in the 77kg bracket at ADCC 2026.
September 12-13, 2026, at the Tauron Arena in Krakow, Poland.