The Abu Dhabi Grand Slam – Rome 2025 took place on February 23rd, 2024 and it marked the promotion’s very first event of the year. It was only the second time that the they’d ever staged a grand slam event in Rome and several fantastic grapplers made the trip to compete. The men’s lighter divisions in particular were stacked with talent, with Andrew Soares winning gold at light-featherweight and Khaled Alshehhi standing on top of the featherweight podium. Nurzhan Batyrbekov shocked everyone by winning the lightweight division, and he wasn’t the only champion that wasn’t expected. Rui Neto and Clemer Canario also won gold at middleweight and light-heavyweight respectively.
The final men’s champions were Lucas Protasio at welterweight and Matheus Felipe Xavier at super-heavyweight. There was a good mix of early favorites and upsets winning in the women’s divisions, as usual thanks to brown and black belts competing together. Teenage brown belt Nikolett Kis won an incredible tough lightweight bracket, while Grasielle Brandao impressed on her way to winning the roosterweight title. Yara Soares was the most predictable champion at heavyweight, while Gabriela Pereira was another obvious favorite who made good on that promise at light-featherweight. The final champion was top UK talent Nia Blackman, and she had a great run to gold in the middleweight division.
Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Tour – Rome 2025 Full Results
Men’s Black Belt Divisions
Light-Featherweight
1 – Andrew Soares
2 – Omar Alsuwaidi
3 – Jalen Fonacier
Featherweight
1 – Khaled Alshehhi
2 – Matheus Onda
3 – Jordan Vaisman
Lightweight
1 – Nurzhan Batyrbekov
2 – Mohammed Alsuwaidi
3 – Kennedy Maciel
Welterweight
1 – Lucas Protasio
2 – Luiz Santos
3 – Yuri Rodrigues
Middleweight
1 – Rui Neto
2 – Uanderson Ferreira
3 – Victor Lima
Light-Heavyweight
1 – Clemer Canario
2 – Marcos Carrozzino
3 – Vladimir Blium
Super-Heavyweight
1 – Matheus Felipe Xavier
2 – Ricardo Evangelista
3 – Guilherme Gomes
Women’s Brown and Black Belt Divisions
Roosterweight
1 – Grasielle Brandao
2 – Giulia Gregorut
3 – Diana Teixeira
Light-Featherweight
1 – Gabriela Pereira
2 – Maria Delahaye
3 – Laurie Rocha
Lightweight
1 – Nikolett Kis
2 – Natalia Zumba
3 – Stephanie Faure
Middleweight
1 – Nia Blackman
2 – Gabriela Barroso
3 – Aleksandra Plemiashova
Heavyweight
1 – Yara Soares
2 – Isabely Lemos
3 – Denise Krahn
The full results for every other weight class at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Tour – Rome 2025 can be found here.
