This article is part of our ADCC 2022 coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend.
Two more promotional newcomers will be making their debuts at the 2022 ADCC world championships as the number of available invites are quickly dwindling down. The first of these two latest invites was allocated to the over 99kg division and given to the aggressive and physically-imposing competitor Haisam Rida. We named Rida as one of the top BJJ athletes to watch out for back in September 2020, coincidentally just a little under two years before he will step on the mats at ADCC 2022 for the very first time.
Rida will enter the division as one of the dark horses who has a good chance of making it to the podium if things go his way but it will be incredibly difficult for him to make it home with a gold medal seeing as his division will feature several former ADCC world champions. Gordon Ryan will no doubt the be the favourite to emerge victorious but Rida will also face stiff opposition from the likes of Felipe Pena and Nicky Rodriguez too.
The second newcomer given an invite to ADCC 2022 was Kendall Reusing, the elite female competitor who’s been dominating the heavier divisions recently. Reusing did actually manage to win the North American East Coast trials in impressive fashion, but victory there did not guarantee a place in the world championships. She wasn’t able to repeat the feat at the West Coast trials when qualification was on the table, but she did manage to win the Polaris openweight title and the Grapplefest openweight title both in the same month.
It’s this run of fantastic form that has earned Reusing her invite to ADCC 2022 and she will now compete in the over 60kg division against some of the best women to ever step on the mats. Gabi Garcia will be returning in an attempt to win her fifth ADCC world title and Bianca Basilio represents another strong favourite to take home the title in 2022, which means that Reusing will have her work cut out for her as a newcomer to the promotion. Regardless, Reusing has a solid chance of reaching the podium and has a fantastic opportunity in front of her as she will be able to face some of the biggest names in the sport.
Both of the two most recent newcomers at the 2022 ADCC world championships had their invites announced in separate posts to the promotion’s official Instagram account:
