Elder Cruz has just announced that he will be moving to Pedigo Submission Fighting and will represent them in future competitions. Cruz announced that he’ll be moving to Toledo, Ohio and will be training at Adamas Jiu-Jitsu; an affiliate of PSF that includes some of it’s top representatives. Dante Leon leads the team and there’s a ton of talented grapplers working there every day, so Cruz will fit right in with an excellent training room like that. He’s a great addition to the team too and as a two-time ADCC veteran, he brings them some really valuable experience at the highest level of the sport.
It’s a great stylistic fit too, as Cruz started out his grappling career with wrestling just like many PSF competitors did. That remains a strong influence in his Jiu-Jitsu career, as he’s known for his great standing grappling and guard-passing. Leon and other PSF competitors like Max Hanson are a little more well-rounded than Cruz though, and it’ll be interesting to see if he can develop the rest of his skills to the same level. It’s certainly going to be a big change for Cruz, as he’s spent the majority of his time training under Lucas Leite and representing the Checkmat team under him.
Cruz is already one of the best grapplers in the world in his weight class of course, but this might be the move that allows him to reach the next level. He’s won the IBJJF No Gi World Championship twice already but he hasn’t managed to make it to the second day of ADCC on his two attempts so far. He’s already incredibly tough to submit and has a style built for success under ADCC rules so with a few little tweaks, he could easily end up standing on the podium at ADCC 2026. The first challenge for Cruz is ADCC Trials though, and he’ll likely be making a run at them in just a few months’ time.
Elder Cruz announced his decision to move to Pedigo Submission Fighting in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
