The ADCC World Championships have never had women’s divisions of the same size as men’s and has only run an absolute division twice in over two decades of the event’s existence. This might have made sense in the earliest days of grappling but over the last ten years or so, women’s BJJ has come along leaps and bounds. There’s now a huge number of elite female competitors and even more waiting in the wings to make their mark at the highest level. It seems as though the fans aren’t the only ones who’ve noticed as ADCC head organizer Mo Jassim has thought about it increasing the number of divisions too:
Mo Jassim – “Personally, I want to add to the women’s division. I feel like it’s at that stage right now. There’s a lot of talent. I think it’s the right direction.”
Sadly, right now might not be the time that this actually gets done, as Jassim points out that the current pandemic has meant that a lot of his energy has to go on dealing with that problem instead. Not only does this situation mean that a lot of plans for the World Championships need to be changed, it also puts some of the ADCC trials events in jeopardy too:
Mo Jassim – “The problem right now is that the entire organization is focused on this COVID situation and putting the trails and the world championships on. [We need] to make sure the trials that we have scheduled happen, so that the world championship can happen on time.”
“There are so many variables. It’s hard to introduce a new division at a time like this.”
Regardless of whether it happens next year or not, it’s great news for female grapplers around the planet that there may be more opportunities for them to make a statement on the world’s biggest stage soon. When asked what women’s divisions he would add for future ADCC events, Jassim said he would choose the weight class based on the talent pool:
Mo Jassim – “I would literally sit down and take the top competitors and their weight classes. You have to balance it out. and make sure enough competitors can fit in.”
You can read the feature interview with Jassim here.
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