Gunnar Nelson is one of the best UFC fighters of his generation and he’s known for his elite grappling skills, that he first put to the test at the highest level back at ADCC 2009. He’d already had six professional fights in his MMA career by that time and hadn’t lost any of them, winning five and drawing one. Although there’s a long history of professional MMA fighters competing at the ADCC world championship, Nelson wasn’t a big name in the sport by then. He recently sat down with Craig Jones for an episode of El Segundo and he explained how he actually got the invite to compete at the event:
“Renzo (Gracie), he hooked it up. At the time as well they wanted people from different countries a little bit more. Now it’s, you have to compete a bit more to get in and stuff. I think back then there was (ADCC) trials, but there was also like, they would invite people from certain countries as well, because they wanted people from all different places. So I was lucky to get just an invitation and obviously Renzo had a lot to do with that.”
Nelson went out in the opening round of the 88kg division before coming back on the second day to compete in the absolute division. That’s where he really shone, as he defeated both Jeff Monson and David Avellan before dropping matches to Xande Ribeiro and Vinny Magalhaes. He finished fourth in the absolute division but that kind of performance on his very first attempt at the tournament was truly memorable. Gunnar Nelson also explained why he competed at 88kg back at ADCC 2009 despite the fact that he’s historically competed at welterweight (77kg) during his MMA career:
“I go in there and my training partner Gregor Gracie, he’s doing the 77(kg). So I’m like ‘yeah, I guess I’ll do the 88(kg).’ At the time I was lighter than Gregor but I didn’t mind, I just was really happy to be able to compete, you know? I was 20/21 and I stepped on the scales like full clothed with a backpack and a sandwich and I was like 85 kilos or something, and I was doing 88.”
That wasn’t the only time that Gunnar Nelson competed at the ADCC world championship either, as he was invited back for the next edition in 2011. He did one better in his weight class and went 1-1, but he couldn’t replicate the same success in the absolute that he enjoyed previously. He met Xande Ribeiro a little earlier in the bracket this time and went 1-1 again. That was the last time that Nelson competed at ADCC and he left with a total record of 4-5 under the ruleset, although that might not be how it ends apparently:
“It was a good experience, and I really enjoyed it. It’s something I’d like to maybe do again, ADCC, because I really… I thought it was the most fun Jiu-Jitsu competition I’ve done. Now I’ve never done these superfights that are happening now all the time, but maybe I’ll do that as well. It’s probably more money too.”
The full episode of El Segundo podcast where Gunnar Nelson opened up about his run at ADCC 2009 and his potential to return to the tournament was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu: