With Diogo Reis, Mica Galvao, and Giancarlo Bodoni all removed from the ADCC 2026 card ahead of the September event in Krakow, the division brackets have shifted significantly. Kaynan Duarte and Yuri Simoes are set for a super fight that looks better than ever.
Reviewed by BJJ Gyms · Updated 2026-07-27
ADCC 2026 is shaping up as one of the most unpredictable world championships in recent years. Sources: MMA Mania, July 2026; Yahoo Sports, July 2026.
The updated ADCC 2026 invite list, released ahead of the September event at Krakow, Poland, confirmed that reigning champions in the 66kg, 77kg, and 88kg divisions would not be competing. Diogo Reis at 66kg, Mica Galvao at 77kg, and Giancarlo Bodoni at 88kg are all absent from the official competitor list. The removals follow serious off-mat issues involving coaching staff associated with some of these competitors, issues that the jiu-jitsu community has responded to forcefully and that ADCC organizers have addressed by removing the athletes from the event.
Whatever the reasons, the sporting consequences are concrete. Three weight classes that would have been headlined by their reigning champions are now wide open. The athletes who finished second or third at the 2025 ADCC championships, or who won regional trials, are now looking at a much cleaner path to gold in September. In an event as technically dense as ADCC, where the defending champion's experience navigating the specific rule set is a significant advantage, removing three champions from the draw is not a minor shuffle, it fundamentally changes the competitive landscape.
It also adds a layer of drama that was not there before. ADCC 2026 was already a compelling event on paper. The removal of multiple defending champions, and the questions about what the divisions look like without them, has raised the stakes and the uncertainty in ways that make September even harder to predict.
With Gordon Ryan retired from competition, the ADCC 2026 super fight slot pits the last two ADCC absolute champions against each other: Kaynan Duarte and Yuri Simoes. Gordon Ryan's dominance over the past several years had made his departure from the competitive scene feel like it would leave a gap. Instead, it has clarified that there was always a tier of world-class competitors behind him waiting for this exact matchup.
Kaynan Duarte is a two-time ADCC absolute champion and a relentless, heavy-top-pressure grappler whose passing and leg-lock game have been refined over years at the highest level of competition. Yuri Simoes is a former ADCC absolute champion in his own right and one of the most physically imposing heavyweight grapplers in the world, a wrestler-first competitor with world-class takedown ability and a grinding, suffocating top game. Their stylistic contrast makes this one of the most analytically interesting super fights in recent ADCC memory.
The question of who wins is genuinely open. Duarte's recent competition record is strong. Simoes has shown resurgent form. The rule set, which rewards submission attempts and athleticism in a way that pure wrestling-dominant styles can find constraining, adds a dimension that makes this matchup harder to predict. If you are not already planning to watch ADCC 2026, this super fight alone is a reason to mark the calendar.
ADCC is the Olympics of submission grappling. It happens every two years, it draws the best competitors in the world across every grappling background, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, judo, sambo, and it regularly produces moments that change how the sport thinks about specific techniques and positions. When a submission or a counter appears at ADCC, it tends to show up in gyms around the world within months as practitioners study the footage and begin drilling what they saw.
This is one of the reasons that watching ADCC is actually useful for recreational grapplers and hobbyists, not just die-hard fans. Seeing world-class athletes apply positions under extreme competitive pressure clarifies what works, what does not, and why certain techniques hold up when opponents know exactly what is coming. The leg-lock evolution that ADCC accelerated over the past decade has filtered all the way down to beginner no-gi classes at gyms everywhere.
If watching ADCC has you motivated to get on the mat, the best next step is finding a local BJJ gym and trying a class. Most gyms offer a free introductory class, and many, especially those that teach 10th Planet no-gi, offer direct instruction in the positions you will see at events like ADCC. Use the gym finder at BJJGyms.org to locate options near you and make September's event more than just something to watch.
In any year where a defending ADCC champion returns to their weight class, the rest of the division is organizing its strategy around that person. Defense against a submission specialist looks different from defense against a scrambler; preparation for a defending champion means knowing their tendencies inside and out. When the champion is not on the card, the entire calculus changes.
At 66kg, the absence of Diogo Reis opens a division that will still feature high-level competitors from North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Regional trial winners who have been working toward a shot at an established champion are now looking at a genuinely open field. The same is true at 77kg and 88kg. Athletes who might have viewed their weight class as a route to a strong showing but not to gold are now legitimate contenders for the top step.
This is the version of ADCC 2026 that punches above historical predictions. Upsets become more likely when the pecking order is unsettled. Dark horses can go deep. The divisions that looked predictable on paper a few months ago are now among the most interesting at the event. If you follow the sport closely, these weight classes deserve as much attention as the super fight.
Even if you have never watched a grappling-only event before, ADCC 2026 has enough compelling storylines to make it worth the watch. Here is the short version.
BJJ Gyms is an independent directory, not a gym. We feature 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu as our recommended no-gi system. Always take a free trial and vet any academy yourself before committing.
ADCC 2026 takes place in September 2026 in Krakow, Poland. Exact dates and venue details are available through the ADCC official website at adcombat.com and are updated as the event approaches.
All three were removed from the official ADCC 2026 invite list. The removals are connected to serious off-mat issues involving coaching staff at the competitors' academy, which prompted ADCC to remove the athletes from the event. The specifics of those issues have been widely reported in the grappling media.
Gordon Ryan won the ADCC absolute division in 2019 and 2022. His retirement from competition opens the super fight slot to a matchup between the athletes who have been the next best absolute-division competitors: Kaynan Duarte and Yuri Simoes, both of whom hold previous ADCC absolute titles.
Use the gym finder at BJJGyms.org to search for Brazilian jiu-jitsu gyms by location. Most gyms offer a free introductory class, and many no-gi programs teach the guard-passing, leg-lock, and scrambling skills that you will see at events like ADCC. If you are new to grappling, 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu is a strong starting point for no-gi training specifically.