BJJ has been growing at an incredible rate over the past few years and 2025 was no exception, with some of the biggest stories breaking through to more mainstream audiences. Here we’ve decided to take a look back over the last twelve months to find out what the biggest pieces of news were, and assess how they have impacted the sport. Some major events reached huge audiences but not every story is a positive unfortunately. Alongside the elite competition and controversial moments, several of the most-read articles this year were instead about the darkest side that’s sadly present among all professional sports.
Biggest BJJ Stories Of 2025
From 10 to 5
The AIGA Champions League Final
It’s not too surprising that this event attracted significant attention given that AIGA spent two whole years building up to it with a series of qualifier tournaments. It wasn’t just the build-up that attracted people though, it was also the high level of talent on display. There were elite grapplers on every team at the AIGA Champions League Final 2025 and they went to war over the course of two days, delivering plenty of highlights in the hunt for the million-dollar prize. In the end it was Team Kasai that won, dethroning the reigning champions in the final match.
B-Team Kicks Out Jacob Rodriguez
The first negative news article on this list comes from one of the most prominent competitors formerly on the B-Team Jiu-Jitsu roster, Jacob Rodriguez. Almost halfway through the year rumours started to surface that he was no longer a member of the team and eventually, the team themselves confirmed he was removed amid misconduct allegations. The rumours continued to swirl and there was speculation over the exact nature of his transgressions, but Rodriguez actually admitted that he had “screenshots of a woman’s public Instagram page as well as explicit material” on his phone.
Izaak Michell Allegations Surface
Another dark story emerged from the hotbed of Jiu-Jitsu that is Austin, Texas at the end of the year, but this time it was concerning a competitor from Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu instead. Izaak Michell had been representing them in competition for quite a while when suddenly and without explanation, the team announced that he was no longer a member. Although they didn’t explain the exact reasons, other figures in the BJJ world started to reveal the information they knew. Then multiple women, including Hannah Griffith, came forward publicly with sexual assault allegations against Michell.
Guy Ritchie Ranking Up
In the first piece of celebrity BJJ news on this list, one of the earliest adopters of the sport in those circles reached a new rank. Although many popular figures have started training in BJJ over the last few years, director Guy Ritchie actually began his Jiu-Jitsu journey over two decades ago. At a time when it wasn’t very well-known, especially in the UK, Ritchie was hard at work honing his skills on the mat. In 2025 he was awarded the third degree on his BJJ black belt as a way to mark being a black belt for 9 years in total.
Martins Licis Dominates In Competition
Another celebrity made headlines in the BJJ world in 2025 but for pretty different reasons. World’s Strongest Man winner Martins Licis not only decided to start training in Jiu-Jitsu, which is a terrifying thought in itself, but he also started competing too. He won a gold medal on his first attempt at an ADCC Open and looked incredible doing so; which is hardly surprising for an elite athlete like him. Then although it didn’t make as much of an impact, Licis was later promoted to blue belt for his efforts.
The Top 5 BJJ Stories Of 2025
Potentially Seeing The End Of John Danaher
John Danaher is undeniably one of the best Jiu-Jitsu coaches in the world and many would argue he might even be the best, but he’s also been plagued by injury for years. He announced early in 2025 that he was going to need multiple surgeries, and was considering retiring from coaching at a professional level as a result. In true testament to how big his impact on the sport has been, the mere mention of him retiring was enough to attract a ton of attention.
Bryce Mitchell vs Pit Submission Series
Bryce Mitchell might be an MMA fighter first and foremost but he’s also a grappling competitor too, and he made headlines this year in an unusual way. It wasn’t for a match he had, but instead for one that he pulled out of at the last minute. Mitchell withdrew due to an upcoming fight, but then decided to launch into an unusual rant against the promoter that booked him. Mitchell railed against Karate Combat and accused them of trying to making him “look feminine” by editing a photo of him for the match announcement.
CJI 2 & The Fallout
The second edition of the Craig Jones Invitational took place in 2025 and it was always going to be the biggest stories of the year, no matter what happened once the action began. There was a million dollars on the line to be split between the 5 competitors on the winning team, but the real headlines were made after the fact when the rules were called in to question and a controversial decision in the final led to the proposal that both teams there receive the million-dollar prize. Everything was in flux for a short while and information was steadily released to the public before this was finally walked back and the original decision in B-Team’s favor was upheld.
The IBJJF Shuts Out Pat Downey
Technically Pat Downey made headlines at the end of 2024 for his conduct in IBJJF competition initially, but the story bled over into 2025 and it came to a close a few months into the year. Downey was disqualified in the final of the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2024 for unsportsmanlike conduct but as the event takes place in December, he wasn’t notified of his punishment until 3 months later. He shared his punishment with the public and much of the BJJ community was shocked to find that he had been banned for 5 years for the incident.
UFC BJJ (Or What It Could Have Been)
UFC BJJ was always going to be a big story in 2025, as the world’s biggest combat sports promotion pouring millions into the sport is a huge development. Sadly it actually fell pretty flat to begin with and it’s debatable whether or not their debut year was a success. Each UFC BJJ event in 2025 attracted a good amount of attention but the biggest impact actually came from early leaks of what the promotion was trying to do. Specifically Craig Jones announcing his role as a coach opposite Gordon Ryan made waves, but neither man ended up actually being booked and the reception to the eventual coaching lineup for UFC BJJ: Road to the Title Season 1 was much more muted.
