ADCC increasing their prize money for 2026 should have been resoundingly good news, but it has come with plenty of bad news specifically for female athletes. The promotion announced that they were raising their total prize pool from $230,600 to $362,000 ready for ADCC 2026, and obviously this was met with appreciation. It’s been a long time coming but taking a step forward like this is welcome. Male champions will now receive double what they have done at previous editions; going from $10,000 to $20,000. Female champions have not received a comparative increase though, as their official pay has increased by 66% instead of 100%; going from $6,000 to $10,000.
Why Does ADCC Pay Female Competitors Half As Much?
Not only are female divisions still being awarded less prize money than male divisions; the percentage that they receive has decreased. Female champions were getting paid 60% of what male champions were being paid, and now they will receive just 50% instead. One of the biggest arguments for this disparity is the fact that the female divisions are half the size of male divisions, with 8 competitors instead of 16. That argument doesn’t really hold water any more though, because there are more than enough elite female grapplers to fill out 16 slots in each of the 3 weight classes that ADCC offer them.
This isn’t just a hopeful statement either. That would be just 48 slots in total, and the IBJJF No Gi World Championship exceeded that number in black belts by far last year before even considering all of the talented purple and brown belts that could win ADCC Trials. The limited number of opportunities available for women at ADCC should not be used as an excuse to pay women less; because that problem is clearly self-inflicted. This is a sentiment that many top female competitors share, and two-time ADCC Trials winner Talita Nogueira illustrated the point perfectly when we asked for her opinion on the matter:
“Women have always lived with unequal pay, and we have always heard many excuses to justify it. A few years ago, some of those “excuses” might have made you stop and think. But today, the reality has clearly changed. There is no justification for women earning less when the most exciting and sometimes the most anticipated matches, as we recently saw at the European Championship, are women’s matches. Regarding ADCC, I am 100% certain that if they wanted to, they could create the same number of categories, with the same number of athletes, and still have only top-level female competitors. With only two or three categories, many extremely talented women are left out; athletes the audience wants to see. Increase the number of athletes, increase the number of categories, and pay them the same. It’s not difficult. There are no excuses for this anymore.”
Nogueira spent a lot of her career competing at a time when the number of women in Jiu-Jitsu was fairly low, but she’s witnessed the growth of the sport firsthand. She is a member of a generation that only ever had two weight classes available at ADCC, as the promotion shrunk down to that number from 2009 all the way up to 2022. Things took a step in the right direction when the promotion reopened a third weight class for ADCC 2024 and young grapplers will benefit from that opportunity. There is undoubtedly still room for more though; even just be increasing the size of the divisions if not adding another.
Three Half-Size Divisions Is Not Enough
The current generation of female competitors has a right to feel just as frustrated as those that came before, and we also spoke to ADCC European, Middle-Eastern, and African Trials 2026 champion Injana Goodman to get her thoughts:
“While I’m glad to see ADCC increasing pay for athletes, paying women half of what men receive reflects a deeper issue in grappling. If the reasoning is bracket size, that becomes circular. Women have been given fewer spots and weight classes; you can’t limit opportunity and then use that limitation to justify lower compensation. Equal achievement deserves equal compensation, and growing the sport globally means valuing female competitors equally.”
Goodman has been one of the most vocal proponents of expanding ADCC divisions in recent years, even starting a petition for it in an attempt to pressure the organization. Some critics of her petition have pointed to the fact that the number of women competing at ADCC Trials is lower than the number of men in order to justify why their divisions at the world championship should be smaller. Some of that difference comes down to the fact that only half of the Trials actually offer women invites to ADCC. Like Goodman, Samantha Cook is one of a handful of British women to win the ADCC European Trials and she explained how this results in a negative feedback loop:
”It is encouraging to see prize money increasing, this is really important for the sport, but we need to be honest. Women are still not being given the same opportunities as men. While new weight categories are a positive step, access to qualification pathways remains unequal. Women only have the chance to earn their ticket every other year and men have two opportunities across the same cycle. What this does is directly limit participation, visibility, and career progression for female athletes. There is a depth of talent in women’s BJJ, it’s no longer a question, it’s already there. What’s missing is structural equality. Equal prize money will be a meaningful first step; it raises standards and creates the conditions for further investment and growth. At some point something has to come first and this is an obvious place to start.”
Perhaps the worst part about the unequal prize money at ADCC 2026 is the fact that although women are receiving more than last time from ADCC, they’re sadly receiving the same amount according to social media. Then-head organizer Mo Jassim actually publicly pledged to ensure that the female divisions were paid the same as male divisions on a live stream prior to ADCC 2024, despite it not being official policy at the time:
This means that the women competing at ADCC would have received no increase in pay at all compared to what they actually pocketed last year. A similar sequence of events has happened this year too, with Craig Jones pledging $48,000 to ensure that female divisions were paid the same as male ones. Although this is obviously great news for all involved, it’s not sustainable. Women cannot rely on popular figures in the sport stepping in to make up the deficit, and equality has to come from the organization itself. As ADCC 2017 silver medalist Maria Malyjasiak explained when we reached out to her, the decision to pay women less than men was a predictable one given ADCC’s history:
“I do not think it is fair, but it is also not surprising. ADCC has never been a fair organization in this regard. Despite that, women continue to support the event by competing in it. Over many years, we have managed to add only one additional women’s division, and even that progress has been slow. The structural imbalance has been clear for a long time. Given that context, it is hard to argue that anyone should be shocked that men’s pay was doubled while women’s pay was not. The decision is consistent with how ADCC has historically treated women’s divisions.”
Less Pay, Fewer Divisions, Smaller Brackets, And…
Although many female competitors must be tired of pushing this issue by now; it’s gathering more momentum because 2026 will be a step back for several reasons. 2024 marked the first ADCC female absolute division in 17 years and it’s hard to describe it as anything but a success. It was one of the most exciting brackets of the weekend and the champion, Adele Fornarino, made history by becoming the lightest ADCC absolute champion ever. Staging another female absolute division seemed like such a no-brainer and the promotion could have easily chose to give Fornarino a match for their first ever female superfight title too.
Instead, our sources confirmed that ADCC was choosing to eliminate the female absolute division for 2026. This will come as a blow to any woman who competes at ADCC 2026 but perhaps even moreso to those who are returning to defend their titles. We spoke to the 2024 under 65kg champion Ana Vieira and the removal of the absolute was clearly important to her:
“As I prepare to pursue my second ADCC title, I feel extremely disappointed that the women’s Absolute division was removed and that our prize money still does not reflect our value. Female athletes train just as hard, sacrifice just as much, and contribute significantly to the growth of the sport. We deserve to be valued accordingly”
This feeling of disappointment was echoed in many of the past and present competitors that we spoke to, like ADCC Trials winner Livia Giles:
”There is enough depth, talent and excitement in women’s BJJ to have as many divisions as the men’s with the same amount of competitors. I’m gutted but honestly not surprised to see that the prize money for women stays the same as last cycle, yet the men’s purse doubles. Taking away the women’s absolute also feels like we are going backwards, and it’s a battle many of us have been fighting for years. ADCC has made it pretty clear what they think about women in our sport, but perhaps it will open doors elsewhere. In the meantime, I’ll continue to stand for and represent women by providing them with leadership positions, coaching opportunities, and a safe, inclusive environment to train in at Absolute MMA.”
The Future Of Female Jiu-Jitsu Might Be Outside ADCC
As Giles hinted at, ADCC really do need to be wary of the decisions they make. If so many top competitors feel undervalued then the prestige that lies with an ADCC title is only going to give them so much goodwill. It’s not even as if a rival promoter needs to focus exclusively on women; all it takes is for another major promotion to emerge that values female competitors equally to their male counterparts. With UFC BJJ head Claudia Gadelha revealing that they will no longer be allowing their athletes to compete at ADCC after this year, it seems like ADCC’s time to act might be running out.
UFC BJJ is throwing millions upon millions of dollars into the sport and their competitors are being rewarded very handsomely in exchange for their exclusivity. Choosing between the two is going to be a tough decision for any competitor, but ADCC’s actions are making it much easier for women to make that choice. They’ve already crowned their first female champion at UFC BJJ 4 last year and they’re planning on 10 events for 2026, with potentially even more in 2027. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a full slate of champions and multiple contenders across four or more weight classes by the time that ADCC 2028 comes around.
With all champions signed to exclusive contracts as standard practice, that would immediately remove multiple top competitors from the ADCC selection pool. The real damage would come from those contenders though. If a UFC BJJ title and the associated exclusive contract with large fight purses looks like a realistic goal, why would any woman risk that to compete for a promotion that has consistently undervalued them? ADCC will undoubtedly lose some big stars to UFC BJJ anyway, but alienating half the sport is a huge misstep that could cost them dearly in the long run.
