The IBJJF have just announced that they’ll be bringing back their Absolute Grand Prix for the first time in almost two years on February 26th, 2026. The IBJJF Grand Prix was the promotion’s first attempt at departing from their regular schedule of open tournaments by creating a professional event and it was a huge success. Starting as a one-off tournament bracket at Jiu-Jitsu Con in 2019, it quickly became a pretty regular fixture in the calendar. Although it was clearly a success for a few years, they eventually slowed to a crawl and there hasn’t been a single edition since the IBJJF No Gi Absolute Grand Prix 2024.
Instead, the IBJJF have been focusing their promotional efforts on The Crown instead, another gi tournament that features 6 weight classes on the same night. Given that they recently hosted the third edition of The Crown in 2025 and they’ve clearly been putting more money into it every time, it seemed like this had replaced their Grand Prix events for good. There’s no absolute division available for competitors at The Crown though, so by focusing their Grand Prix events on that then they’ve found a great way for the two events to co-exist. With an IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix kicking the year off and The Crown closing the show, 2026 is set to be a big year for professional gi competition.
There’s no news yet on who will be competing in it, but if past editions are anything to go by then it should be stacked with talent. The last IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix might have been a no gi one but it was won by Kaynan Duarte, so there’s a good chance he returns in an attempt to win both titles. Prior to that, it’s been a very long time since a gi version of the tournament. Nicholas Meregali won the last gi IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix in 2023, but it’s very unlikely that he returns to defend his title. It will be 18 months since Meregali last competed by the time the event comes round and he’s undergone multiple surgeries on an injured shoulder in that time.
The full IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix 2026 event will be available to watch live on February 26th, 2026 on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
