BJJ legend Augusto ‘Tanquinho’ Mendes has just started hinting at a potential return to competition. Although this would undoubtedly be welcome news for grappling fans everywhere, there’s no official announcement or booking just yet. Mendes started out first by looking back on the long list of accomplishments he’s had over the course of his career, including both an ADCC and IBJJF World Championship title. After that though, he asked his fans to share their recommendations for who he should face next and at what promotion. Unsurprisingly, the most popular recommendation was the reigning ADCC world champion at under 66kg; Diogo Reis.
A match between Mendes and Reis would obviously be massive anyway, but an extra layer of interest comes from the fact that Mendes was the last person to win that division before Reis. It would be a unique opportunity to see the two most recent champions battling it out against one another and just like Melqui Galvao suggested, it would make an ideal ADCC superfight. Even if they aren’t interested in booking it or Mendes didn’t want to wait until ADCC 2026 to make his return to the sport, there’s no shortage of promotions out there who’d love to showcase that matchup.
Even without Reis, just booking Mendes’ comeback would be a huge moment in Jiu-Jitsu. It’s been several years since Mendes was last seen in competition, which was in a superfight at BJJ Stars 7 in 2021. Even that was something of a comeback, as it had been two years since he last stepped on the mats at that point in time. At the age of 42 it would obviously be difficult for Mendes to keep up with competitors in their athletic prime like Reis, but Marcelo Garcia made his return earlier this year and showed that there was a place for matches between legends on major events.
Augusto ‘Tanquinho’ Mendes started dropping hints that he might be making a return to BJJ competition in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
