Former World’s Strongest Man champion Martins Licis has taken up a new sport entirely, as he just won a gold medal at an ADCC Open event. Although Licis won his World’s Strongest Man title back in 2019, he has continued competing at the highest level of Strongman competition. He actually decided to take a few months off competition in 2024 after dealing with a few injuries, but athletes like Licis don’t tend to be completely sedentary when they’re recovering. Staying active is one thing of course, but Licis has gone to the extreme and decided to throw himself into another sport that’s just as risky.
Licis actually had the best introduction to the sport imaginable, as he took part in a training session with Gordon Ryan himself. There aren’t all that many people who’ve had the opportunity for a private session with the most successful ADCC competitor of all time, and that clearly paid off in a big way. Although Licis is obviously an elite athlete in his own field, he doesn’t have any prior grappling experience at all. That meant that he was able to enter the beginner division at the ADCC San Diego Open 2025, among a field of other competitors who were also inexperienced.
Licis competed in the over 100kg division and he put on a very impressive display of grappling for someone so new to the sport. There were three other men in his division and Licis had to win two matches in order to stand on top of the podium. Not only did he do exactly that, but he won both of his matches by submission as well. Licis isn’t the first World’s Strongest Man winner to show an interest in BJJ, but he is the first to compete in the sport. His debut really couldn’t have gone any better either, although it’s not entirely surprising an athletic powerhouse like Licis would be an incredibly tough opponent.
The footage of Martins Licis submitting both of his opponents and winning a gold medal at the ADCC San Diego Open was uploaded to the promotion’s official Instagram account:
