Three more competitors have been invited to the 2022 ADCC World Championships, including elite female grappler Beatriz ‘Bia’ Mesquita. The first person to earn their invite was none other than American grappler Josh Hinger, who will be competing in the 88kg division against other incredibly tough invitees like Craig Jones and Xande Ribeiro. After earning his place at ADCC 2019 the hard way by winning the North American West Coast Trials, Hinger put on a great performance at the event and ended up coming away with a bronze medal with his only loss coming by points against the eventual champion, Matheus Diniz.
Shortly after Hinger was announced, Kennedy Maciel also received his invite to the 66kg division where he will face another young prodigy in the North American East Coast trials winner, 16 year-old Cole Abate. Maciel is actually the first competitor to be invited to the division and the only other person to be announced yet is the winner of the European, Middle-Eastern, and African trials, Ashley Williams. As the returning silver medalist and the son of ADCC legend Rubens ‘Cobrinha’ Charles, Maciel is coming in to ADCC 2022 as one of the favorites now that the 2019 champion Augusto ‘Tanquinho’ Mendes has retired.
The final invitee to be announced in a post to the official Instagram account of ADCC was Beatriz Mesquita, the 2017 ADCC world champion. She was the favorite to win again in 2019 but suffered a shock upset in the semi-finals when she had her arm broken in an armbar by the debuting Ffion Davies and couldn’t even compete for bronze as a result of the injury. She joins Bianca Basilio as the field of competitors in the women’s under 60kg division has now reached a quarter-full, with the women’s divisions only requiring 8 competitors instead of the men’s 16.
