The Ocean BJJ Pro Championship 2025 is scheduled for September 20th and there are dozens of top competitors who secured their places at the 5 Trials events earlier in the year. They will make up the majority of the lineup and although there are some special guests, including the reigning champions from 2024, some of the Trials winners will be serious contenders. There have been a few changes since last year that might level the playing field, including a more open ruleset with less banned techniques. There’s some extra motivation for competitors too, as the promotion has invested in some beautiful new title belts and the winners will get a spot on an upcoming Who’s Number One event.
The Trials have been taking place all across Europe and the competition has been fierce, as evidenced by the fact that a number of winners also won medals at the ADCC European, Middle-Eastern, and African Trials 2025. One of them stands out the most, as he already has experience on the Ocean BJJ mats and registered some huge wins last year. Pawel Jaworski beat two of the top contenders in his first attempt and he wasted no time in booking his place, as he won the very first Trial in Warsaw. He’ll be competing at under 80kg here and is fresh off winning ADCC Trials at under 88kg, so he will be a real threat here.
He isn’t the only threat at under 80kg though; as elite Canadian leglocker Kieran Kichuk won his place at the third Trial in Pistoia and Estonia’s top competitor, Tom Maenurm, win the second Trial in Venice. Veteran black belts Francesco Bartolotta and Rafal Farjaszewski both won their places in Barcelona, and they will also be tough opponents for anyone. Rounding out the bracket is Augusto Cesar and Matteo Pezzati; while the 5th and final Trial saw Mateusz Flaga and Tomas Smirnovas earning their place in the bracket. Any one of them could spring a surprise on the more experienced competitors, but the biggest contenders here will likely be Jaworski and Kichuk.
Marcin Maciulewicz is another ADCC Trials winner from earlier this month and he won his place in the over 80kg division in Rome alongside Abraham Martinez. Maciulewicz is one of the best leglockers in the heavyweight division and the ruleset here should play into his game quite well, making him very difficult to stop. Outside of him, the field is a little more open. Pedro Dias should be able to make a good run in this bracket and B-Team Jiu-Jitsu prospect Corbin Laporte is going to be one to watch for the future, so this is a great chance for him to break out.
Mantas Daublys is another top prospect who could surprise a few people, while 18 year-old purple belt Christian Frillici is one of the rising stars of Italian Jiu-Jitsu right now and he has already faced elite opponents at events like the AIGA Champions League Qualifier in Astana last year. Armin Douzali is another young purple belt who won a Trial to get here, while veteran Karol Kania is coming off a run to the quarter-finals of ADCC Trials and could do very well. Max Arnold and Edoardo Cristilli finished off the bracket as replacements for two Trials winners who were unable to make it, and Natan Sap shocked everyone by winning a place at both under and over 80kg.
The women’s brackets are smaller and as such, there are only 4 Trials winners at both under and over 65kg. There’s still some real talent involved though, with Martina Zola competing in the lightest weight class and Eleftheria Christodolou in the heaviest. Emma Rosini joins Zola at under 65kg as the only other woman to submit 3 opponents in her Trial, and she qualified for the over 65kg division too. Denise Krahn was the only woman to submit 3 opponents in qualifying at over 65kg, and Julia Mikolajczak completes the Trials winners there with a pair of submissions. Back at under 65kg, Roksana Wodzynska and Benedetta Manca were the other two qualifiers from the first and fifth Trials respectively.
The full Ocean BJJ Pro Championship grand finale 2025, including all of the Trials winners above, will be available to watch live on September 20th, 2025 on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
