Adele Fornarino is one of the best Jiu-Jitsu competitors in the world right now, but she might be challenging herself in MMA before long instead. It’s not exactly an uncommon career path, as many ADCC world champions have made the transition to MMA over the years. Some have had more success than others of course, and a lot of that comes down to the style of grappling that they use. Fornarino is incredibly dangerous from pretty much everywhere and it’s not hard to imagine that she could be one of the few to go very far in the sport if she develops some good striking.
The idea only came up for Fornarino recently, as she was give backstage access and tickets to UFC 312 after starting her relationship with the promotion. She originally signed to compete for their premier grappling promotion, UFC Fight Pass Invitational, but that experience has made her consider moving to MMA:
“Getting a look at that UFC belt, that 115 belt, I was like ‘oh that’s shiny I really like that.’ I’d like to have a crack at MMA at some point. I just need to tick the boxes in Jiu-Jitsu first.”
She was pretty clear about the fact that Jiu-Jitsu is still the main goal right now even if an MMA career does materialise in the future:
“That’s definitely my first priority and where I’m putting all my attention, but maybe I’ll start dabbling and see if I like it like I do Jiu-Jitsu. I do Jiu-Jitsu because I enjoy it. So if I get the same amount of enjoyment out of competing in MMA, then yes, I would make the transition.”
Her match against Davies was cancelled at the last minute when her opponent got injured, so she still has some unfinished business there. Not only is Adele Fornarino likely looking to get that rematch booked again, but she also has other goals in mind before she makes the move to MMA:
“I want to leave a legacy of mine in jiu-jitsu, so part of that is winning all the titles consistently… One set of ADCC titles is great, it’s cool, but I’d like to do that again. A gi world title would make the 12-year-old version of myself very very proud, so a gi world title would be cool.”
The full interview with Adele Fornarino where she discusses the possibility of moving to MMA was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Southern Cross Combat (H/t to MMAMania):
