This article is part of our ADCC 2024 coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend.
The invites are coming in thick and fast for ADCC 2024 and the latest series of announcements has seen four previous medalists invited to return. Two of the four have actually won gold medals in the past, with one of them being a previous absolute champion and the other being a reigning champion in her division. The full lineup is steadily growing and as the date of the tournament approaches, there are only a handful of spots available in each division. In fact, the first woman who was announced actually took up the last but one place in the division that she was invited to.
That woman is Ffion Davies, who is the reigning champion in the women’s under 60kg division. She most likely would have returned to defend her title but there was a huge change in the weight classes this year, as the promotion added a third women’s division. This change meant that Davies has now had to move weight classes and she has opted to drop down to under 55kg instead of moving up in weight. She now has an opportunity to become the second woman in ADCC history to win titles in two different weight classes and the first to do so in well over a decade.
The second medalist invited to return to ADCC 2024 is another previous champion, although he won his title several years ago. Felipe Pena has had a long and storied ADCC career, with his first medal coming back in 2015 when he took second place in the under 99kg division. He returned in 2017 for his best performance yet, another silver medal at under 99kg and a gold medal in the absolute division. He spent 2019 unsuccessfully challenging Andre Galvao for the superfight title and returned to the regular tournament in 2022 in the over 99kg division, where he will be competing again at ADCC 2024.
Next up is Nicky Rodriguez, a two-time silver medalist and one of the founding members of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu. Rodriguez made the transition from wrestling to BJJ in 2018 and made his ADCC debut in the over 99kg division in 2019 as a blue belt after winning ADCC Trials. He won a silver medal and received his purple belt on the podium, ready for him to return for another attempt at ADCC 2022. Rodriguez won another silver medal in the over 99kg division then and he will now be returning for his third run at glory in the same division in 2024.
The final medalist invited to ADCC 2024 in this recent batch of announcements is legendary American competitor Rafael Lovato Jr. He made his debut back in 2007 where he went 1-1 before returning and going 2-2 in both 2009 and 2011, with all his appearances coming in the under 88kg division. 2013 was Lovato Jr’s time to shine as he made it all the way to the final and won a silver medal in the same weight class, before going 1-1 at that weight in 2015. Lovato Jr moved up to under 99kg for ADCC 2017 and went 2-2 once again, before another 2-2 run in his new weight class in 2022. ADCC 2024 will mark his 8th appearance at the event and he will no doubt be eager to add a second medal to his collection.
ADCC announced the four former medalists who were invited to return at ADCC 2024 in a series of posts to the promotion’s official Instagram account:
