Four more invites have just been announced for ADCC 2024 and all of the competitors revealed in this recent batch are former ADCC Trials winners prior to this cycle. It’s not uncommon that grapplers who win ADCC Trials are given another opportunity to compete after going out early in the tournament edition that they qualified for, as they’ve clearly shown that they belong at the highest level of the sport. That’s exactly what happened to three of the athletes in this latest batch of invites; with two competing in their respective divisions at ADCC 2022, one in 2019, and all three going out in the opening round.
The first invite went out to one of the most exciting grapplers representing B-Team Jiu-Jitsu, the talented young competitor Jacob Rodriguez. He made his debut at ADCC 2022 and he was seen by many as one to watch in the under 88kg division after he put on an electric performance to win gold in the ADCC North American West Coast Trials 2022. He lost on points to veteran competitor Pedro Marinho in his ADCC debut though and immediately set about earning another invite to the tournament, but he fell just short at the ADCC North American West Coast Trials 2024 and had to settle for a silver medal instead. Now Rodriguez has been rewarded with another invite and he will be returning to the under 88kg division at ADCC 2024.
Ashley Williams was the second man in this recent batch of invites and he will be joining the under 66kg division after also losing on points in the first round, to the eventual champion Diogo Reis in his case. Williams won his spot in the ADCC European, Middle-Eastern, and African Trials 2021, and he returned to that exact same event twice since then. He finished in the top four in the 2023 edition and managed to take home a bronze medal in the 2024 edition, so he’s now been given another opportunity to test himself at the world’s most prestigious no gi grappling tournament.
The third man to receive one of the most recent invites to ADCC 2024 never actually made his debut, even though he did win ADCC Trials before. Gutemberg Pereira has been invited to compete in the over 99kg division after a truly incredible performance back in 2022, where he won that same weight class at the second ADCC South American Trials. Pereira finished all of his opponents at Trials and was considered one of the dark horses to win the division at ADCC 2022, but he was unfortunately injured during the lead-up to the tournament and had to be replaced by Max Gimenis.
The final competitor to receive an invite to ADCC 2024 recently was Gabriel Almeida, and he probably made the strongest case for being given another invite out of all four of these competitors. He won ADCC Trials back in 2019 and appeared at ADCC 2019, getting submitted by Josh Hinger in his first match at under 88kg. He returned at the first ADCC South American Trials 2024 and won a silver medal in same weight class, putting in an impressive performance against some very tough opposition. He made another attempt at the second ADCC South American Trials 2024 and left with another silver medal, but that was enough to secure him an invite to the under 88kg division at ADCC 2024.
ADCC announced the news that the four former Trials winners were going to receive invites to ADCC 2024 in a series of recent posts to their official Instagram account: