Women’s Jiu-Jitsu has just suffered a pretty major setback, as multiple sources have confirmed to Jits Magazine that ADCC plans to abandon their female absolute division for ADCC 2026. It’s bad news for female competitors all around the world, as the removal of the absolute division will lead to both less prize money and less exposure than they had at ADCC 2024. It’s a shame for spectators too though, as the ADCC 2024 female absolute was one of the highlights of that whole weekend. It made history for several reasons and after Adele Fornarino won it, she also set up the start of a potential female superfight title as well.
The first clue that ADCC would not be staging another female absolute in 2026 came when they announced increases to the prize money for this year. The promotion explicitly confirmed a total prize pool of $362,000 in their announcement and with the amounts outlined for all top-four finishers added up, that figure was only reached by having one absolute division. They also made reference to an “absolute” when outlining the prize pool, with no indication that it would be “absolutes” plural. Craig Jones has already pledged to pay out $48,000 so that female medalists would be paid the same as men this year, but he has no power to stage a whole additional bracket.
Since then, Jits Magazine has spoken to multiple sources who’ve been able to confirm that this was not an error and there will be no female absolute this year. This isn’t the first time that ADCC have decided to reduce the number of opportunities for women at their events though. The promotion started in 1998 with male divisions only and it wasn’t until 2005 that they introduced the first female divisions; starting with under and over 60kg and an absolute. They expanded to four weight classes and an absolute division in 2007, but that push proved to be the exception rather than the rule.
In the very next edition in 2009 ADCC got rid of two weight classes to return to under and over 60kg, and abandoned the absolute entirely. That was the status quo all the way up until 2024, despite the fact that female participation in the sport skyrocketed during that time. The IBJJF World Championship has continually pushed for more weight classes across those years, moving from two weight classes in 1998 all the way up to eight and an absolute over a decade ago. Not only that, but they offer these same divisions at every single belt level from blue to black at the same event.
ADCC doesn’t differentiate between belt levels, and for good reason. Over the years there have been a number of coloured belts who’ve had incredible runs at ADCC and some of them have even become champions. This means that the talent pool of available competitors is absolutely massive and the IBJJF proves that over and over again with record levels of participation every year. There were over 70 elite female black belts competing at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2025 and many more talented brown and purple belts; not to mention the top juvenile prospects and anyone who chose not to compete that year.
The talent pool to choose from is bigger than ever before and although ADCC is at least keeping the third weight class that they added in 2024, that still only allows for 24 competitors thanks to women’s divisions being half the size of men’s. At a time when many competitors and fans are calling out for the female brackets to increase in size to match the male brackets or for a fourth weight class to be added, ADCC has apparently gone in the other direction. Limiting opportunities will only ever limit growth and the IBJJF has already proved that the opposite approach pays off.
