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.
Gabi Garcia will now be competing in the over 65kg division at ADCC 2024, as she has just been invited to return to the tournament that she has won multiple times over the years. She has one of the most impressive records of any female grappler in the history of ADCC, and she’s won more gold medals here than any other woman. She has actually competed in every single edition of the ADCC world championship since 2011, when she made her debut and immediately won her first title in the over 60kg division by beating the reigning champion Hannette Staack in the final.
She returned in 2013 and added a second title to her collection, while 2015 saw her fail to win the division for the very first time. She had to settle for a bronze medal that time around, but she came back with a vengeance in 2017 and won her third gold medal. Garcia then made history in 2019 when she won yet another title, becoming the first woman to ever win ADCC four times. She returned most recently in 2022 with the goal of becoming the first person to win five ADCC tournament gold medals, but she fell just short of another title and ended up with her second bronze medal instead.
Garcia has always competed at over 60kg but ADCC have added a third women’s weight class as of this year, so she will be competing at over 65kg this time around instead. While Garcia will be going for her fifth tournament victory once again, she will also have the opportunity of adding a sixth gold medal to her record as ADCC have announced a women’s absolute division for the first time in almost two decades. It’s a fantastic opportunity for Garcia, as she can extend the distance between her and her closest female rivals while also setting brand new records for competitors of any gender.
ADCC 2024 isn’t the only big thing in her career this year either, as Gabi Garcia was also planning to make a comeback in her professional MMA career too. That unfortunately fell through at the last minute due to flooding in Brazil, but there’s still plenty of time left in the year for her to rebook that fight. Even her appearance at ADCC 2024 is something of a comeback too, as she hasn’t competed in a single grappling match since she left with a bronze medal at ADCC 2022.
ADCC announced that Gabi Garcia would be returning to compete in the over 65kg division at ADCC 2024 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
