A major change could be coming to professional grappling.

According to UFC BJJ executive Claudia Gadelha, athletes who sign exclusive contracts with the promotion will no longer be allowed to compete at ADCC beginning in 2027.

Gadelha explained in a recent interview that the organization has made limited exceptions so far, allowing certain contracted athletes to appear at ADCC this year.
However, that policy won’t continue going forward:

There are some of our exclusive athletes that we’ve given the ADCC to this year, but from next year on, they can only be an athlete of the UFC BJJ.

The decision carries enormous implications because ADCC has long been viewed as the most prestigious tournament in submission grappling.
Preventing UFC BJJ athletes from competing there would effectively split elite competitors across separate promotions – something the sport has never experienced on this scale before.

Gadelha emphasized that the UFC doesn’t see itself as directly competing with other organizations such as ADCC or IBJJF:

We don’t want to compete with anyone. We believe in what ADCC is doing, what IBJJF is doing, we believe that these are different products from what we have and what we are doing here.

Her main argument focused on career structure.
With a larger number of scheduled events and recurring opportunities to compete, she believes athletes now have a clearer professional pathway inside one organization:

But we also believe that for an athlete to be able to build a professional career in Jiu-Jitsu, this is the place he or she has to be, because we have consistency.
Last year we did six events, now there are ten events this year.

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