Top young prodigy Sarah Galvao has just become the fourth and final woman to join the CJI 2 lineup. It’s a massive opportunity for such a young competitor, but Galvao has spent several years dominating the colored belt and juvenile divisions to earn her place. She now has a chance to win the $100,000 grand prize if she can win just two matches, an astounding figure that breaks new ground as the biggest prize in women’s BJJ history. There were only four female invites available to CJI 2 and there will have been dozens of other elite grapplers who wanted a shot at the grand prize too.
The first woman announced for the tournament was Helena Crevar, and Galvao joining the lineup will likely mean something special for her in particular. The two young contenders have a little bit of history together from back when they were both brown belts at the beginning of the year, as Galvao put on a passing clinic to beat Crevar on points at the IBJJF Pan Championship. That was in the gi though, and no gi is Crevar’s specialty of course. They’ve also both likely improved since then, as they’ve both shown rapid development in their skills over the last few years already.
Adele Fornarino joined the lineup next and she stands out as the favorite thanks to some incredible performances over the past year, the most notable of which was winning the absolute division at ADCC 2024. She’s not quite the most experienced woman in the bracket though, as the remaining athlete also won gold at ADCC 2024 and has been at the top of the game for around 8 years. Ana Vieira got the remaining invite and with the tournament lineup locked in, it’s now time for fans to start predicting how the bracket will unfold. All of these women will make for interesting stylistic matches and there will be some action-packed matches on August 30th and 31st, 2025.
Craig Jones announced the news that Sarah Galvao would be joining the lineup for CJI 2 in a recent episode of On Borrowed Time that was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu:
