ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials Close 2026 Field | No-Gi Weekly June 15-21

The no-gi week closed with the last open spot at the September ADCC Worlds finally being claimed, the dust settling on a Polaris card that flipped the Squads format on its head, and Craig Jones quietly killing the third Craig Jones Invitational. Here is everything that mattered between June 15 and June 21 for grapplers, fans, and anyone keeping a calendar pinned to Kraków.

ADCC 2026 Asia & Oceania Trials Wrap From Gold Coast

The final ADCC Trials of the 2026 cycle ran in Gold Coast, Australia and locked in the last continental qualifiers heading to Kraków in September. After three rounds of North American and European trials filled most of the bracket, Oceania and Asia were the last territories with empty chairs at the table — and the FloGrappling-streamed event delivered the late-stage roster shuffle the season needed.

Australian grapplers controlled their home mats but a tighter pack of Japanese and Filipino entries pushed several brackets to decision-only finals, exactly the pace you would expect from a region where leg-lock chess and pressure passing meet head-on. Several names already pencilled in by ADCC commentators as “dark horse picks” earned their direct invitations, joining the Trials qualifiers already locked from North America and Europe. With Asia and Oceania now settled, the entire 88-athlete competitor list for September is essentially closed, save for the last-call invitational handouts.

For viewers tuning in to ADCC for the first time this cycle, the Kraków card is the headline product of the year. Tauron Arena seats over 15,000, the prize purse jumped to $362,000 with men’s champions doubling to $20,000 and absolute and superfight winners taking $50,000 each. The Worlds run September 12–13.

ADCC Worlds Field Effectively Closed — What Kraków Looks Like Now

The last seven days closed the trials phase that began in November 2025 and ran through five global qualifiers. The names on the Kraków bracket include a heavy mix of returning veterans and fresh ticket-punchers from this year’s trials run.

From the West Coast Trials in Pomona back in April, Michael Sainz punched through the deepest -77kg bracket of the year, finishing the weekend with the most submissions on the mats and overcoming a field of 190 entries. Gianni Grippo ran a Cinderella -66kg bracket and earned his return to ADCC roughly a decade after his last appearance — a comeback storyline that has only grown louder as Kraków approaches. Nathan Haddad at -88kg and Nick Hartman at +99kg rounded out the headline winners. Each of those tickets remains valid as the bracket firms up over the next 80 days.

The biggest open question heading into the summer is whether the late-call invite list will reshape the absolute. ADCC organisers have left wildcard slots unannounced going into July, which is the pattern fans saw before the 2024 cycle — a chess-piece move that historically pulls in names like Gordon Ryan, who has only been hinted at as a potential 2026 starter.

UFC BJJ 9 Fallout: Fowler Retains, Burns Returns to the Mats

The biggest single result still rippling through this week’s news cycle comes from UFC BJJ 9 at the APEX in Las Vegas on June 4. Reigning light heavyweight champion Mason Fowler dispatched IBJJF standout Devhonte Johnson by first-round rear naked choke in his second title defense. The finish was unremarkable in mechanics — straight back take, hooks in, choke — but the speed of it sent a louder signal than the technique.

Fowler’s run as the inaugural UFC BJJ light heavyweight has reset what no-gi fans expect from the top end of the new league. Two title defenses in under a year, both first-round submissions, and the Caio Terra-trained American is now arguably the most-active titleholder in promotional no-gi.

The co-main saw Gilbert “Durinho” Burns return to pure submission grappling after years of MMA, capping a stylistic homecoming with a first-round rear naked choke over Horlando Monteiro. Burns is one of three former UFC welterweight contenders to cross back into competitive no-gi this year, and his finish gave the UFC BJJ league exactly the cross-promotional moment it has been chasing.

Elsewhere on the card, Nick Rodriguez, Ffion Davies, Bella Mir, and Achilles Rocha all logged first-round submissions. Read the full UFC BJJ 9 results breakdown for the under-card finishes.

Mikey Musumeci’s Bantamweight Reign Heads Toward MMA Talk

UFC BJJ bantamweight champion Mikey Musumeci remains the most-spoken-about figure inside the new promotion. The reigning and defending bantamweight king submitted CFFC standout Kevin Dantzler at UFC BJJ 8 in May with a first-round finish, then spent the back half of June telling outlets that an MMA transition is now on his radar.

For a five-time IBJJF black belt world champion, the move would be one of the most-watched MMA debuts ever. Musumeci already spent a chunk of his prior ONE Championship run cross-training with Demetrious Johnson, and the speculation around when — not if — he picks a debut opponent has been a persistent topic this past week across BJJ podcasts and forums.

For no-gi specifically, the ripple effect matters: every Musumeci appearance pushes the bantamweight rashguard market into search-volume territory it never touched before 2025. Smaller competitors finally have a marquee namesake to point at when arguing for better-cut fightwear at the lighter end.

Polaris 37 Recap: Crevar Defends, Squads Lopsided

Polaris 37 (June 6 in Dublin) is still the freshest title-defense card in the no-gi calendar, and the past week brought a flood of finish-by-finish breakdowns from international coverage outlets. Helena Crevar defended her lightweight title against Amanda Pamela Nicole, locking up a rear naked choke in the second round after threatening the finish in round one. The win extends what is now a multi-year run for the teenage phenom, who has lost no Polaris title shot since debuting at Polaris 28.

The Squads format pit Polaris against the Brazilian BJJ Stars promotion, with the home side running away with a 20-10 result. Lucas Kanard set the tone with a brutal Z-lock finish over Julio Martins, then followed with a decision over Henrique ‘Ceconi’ Cardoso. Taylor Pearman and Pawel Jaworski each scored four points as the team’s heaviest hitters. The full match drop is worth the watch, particularly for grapplers who want to see what coastal-Atlantic submission strategy looks like against Brazilian top-pressure passing.

CJI 3 Cancelled — Craig Jones Pivots Toward a Different Format

The headline that dominated grappling Reddit and X this week was confirmation from Craig Jones that the third Craig Jones Invitational is cancelled. Jones replied to a fan thread bluntly: “cancelled. Decided to keep…” before trailing into a redirect about a different model.

The about-face is significant. Jones spent the spring publicly hyping a $10 million prize pool for what he initially branded “CJI 2.5,” planning a head-to-head no-gi event for July. Industry analysts read the pivot as Jones acknowledging that the no-gi event-promoter market shifted faster than he expected once UFC BJJ went on its current run of monthly cards. Independent promoters now compete for the same talent pool, with no broadcast partner to anchor revenue.

For no-gi competitors who built training camps around a July CJI, the timeline reset is real. Several Australian and American grapplers reportedly were already in extended camps before the pivot was announced. Several have re-routed to either the August ADCC Open in Texas or the late-July UFC BJJ qualifiers.

ADCC Governance Aftershock: Mo Jassim Breaks Silence on Atlanta Open Brawl

The week’s quieter but still consequential story sits in the ADCC governance lane. Mo Jassim, ADCC’s North American organiser, spoke for the first time about the brawl that ended the Atlanta Open earlier this month. The event devolved into a between-mats fight involving spectators and corner-side coaches, and several competitors had matches called early as venue staff cleared the floor.

Jassim’s statement walked the political line — committing to additional security at the next Open without naming specific teams or sanctioning anyone publicly. For no-gi fans, the angle that matters is the warning shot it sends ahead of Kraków. ADCC Worlds runs a tighter venue lockdown by design, but the Atlanta incident has handed regulators in Poland a fresh reason to staff the floor with more visible authority than fans saw at Vegas 2024.

Gear Lane: Sizing Conversation Stays Hot After Brand Comparisons

The past week’s gear traffic kept circling back to one topic: brand sizing inconsistency. No-gi shoppers comparing competition rashguards across Hayabusa, Venum, and Tatami continued running into the issue we covered earlier in the month — a “medium” in one brand fits like a “large” in another, and the gap widens once you cross from European cuts to North American cuts. If you missed it, the Hayabusa vs Venum vs Tatami sizing breakdown and our broader no-gi sizing guide for major brands remain the best two starting points for anyone trying to spec a competition kit before fall events.

For competitors heading to outdoor open mats or beach training rolls this summer, the rashguard UPF and UV protection guide covers the spec layer most no-gi athletes skip until they have already sun-burned through a session. Worth a read before July.

Looking Ahead

The next 30 days are stacked. UFC BJJ has its July card on the books with at least one championship match expected to be confirmed in the next week. ADCC’s open-tournament calendar continues with the Atlanta Open’s rescheduled finals and the August event in Texas, which will be the last open in the United States before the September Worlds in Kraków. Polaris is quiet between its Squads cycle but expect a return to single-match cards by August.

The story to watch hardest, though, is what UFC BJJ does about its July card. With CJI 3 off the calendar, UFC BJJ now has a clear runway to consolidate as the dominant monthly no-gi product before ADCC takes the spotlight back in September. Whether they push another light heavyweight defense for Mason Fowler or rotate to a women’s title card is the single biggest scheduling decision in the league.

For no-gi gear shoppers, the lead-up to Kraków historically pushes brand sizing into chaos as athletes finalize competition kit. Expect re-stocks, capsule drops, and at least one major brand to push an “ADCC Worlds” capsule before August. We’ll cover those as they land.

That’s the wrap for June 15–21, 2026. Train smart, roll often, and we’ll see you back here next Sunday.

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