The first edition of the ADCC South American Trials 2026 took place on March 14th, 2026 and the results saw 5 more competitors earn their invites to ADCC 2026. It was a great day of high-level grappling and even though none of the women were able to win invites this time around, there was still some great performances from them. Ingridd Alves looked particularly impressive at over 65kg; submitting her first 3 opponents before shutting out Maria Cardoso to win 6-0 in the final. Ana Silva won 3 matches by points or decision against veteran opponents to win under 65kg, while Montserrat Perez beat both her opponents 2-0 to win the under 55kg title.
The men’s divisions were obviously a lot bigger due to the fact that the winners would actually get an invite, and under 77kg was the busiest of them all with almost 100 competitors. 19 year-old Melqui Galvao brown belt Julio Martins won gold there and although he only managed a single finish, beating 7 elite grapplers in one day is a amazing feat. His teammate, 18 year-old purple belt David Santos, won the under 66kg division with a higher finishing-rate after submitting half of his opponents. Santos won 6 matches to earn an invite in his weight class; making sure that Melqui Galvao is very well-represented in the lightest divisions as both of the returning champions there are his students too.
Under 88kg was one of the toughest divisions on paper due to the depth of talent and Peruvian black belt Franco Diaz had to beat several top-ranked grapplers to win there. He also came away with 6 wins on the day and although he only managed 2 finishes, the level of opposition he faced meant that even winning at all was a big challenge. The under and over 99kg weight classes were much smaller and much more predictable, as Elioenai Braz and Roosevelt Sousa won them respectively. They both went 4-0 but where Braz got one finish, Sousa was on absolute fire and ended up as the only person to submit every single one of his opponents.
ADCC First South American Trials 2026 Full Results
Men’s Divisions
Under 66kg
1 – David Santos
2 – Diego Ortiz
3 – Bernardo Albuquerque
Under 77kg
1 – Julio Martins
2 – Martin Abeal
3 – Gabriel Monteiro
Under 88kg
1 – Franco Diaz
2 – Gabriel Brod
3 – Tyrone Gonsalves
Under 99kg
1 – Elioenai Braz
2 – Fellipe Trovo
3 – Ramiro Leon
Over 99kg
1 – Roosevelt Sousa
2 – Pedro Alex
3 – Yatan Bueno
Women’s Divisions
Under 55kg
1 – Montserrat Perez
2 – Bianca Giannini
3 – Estafani Etadia
Under 65kg
1 – Ana Silva
2 – Natalia Maguerroski
3 – Julia Boscher
Over 65kg
1 – Ingridd Alves
2 – Maria Cardoso
3 – Maria Ruffatto
The full ADCC First South American Trials 2026 event replay, including all of the above results, is available to watch exclusively on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
