Veteran competitor Vagner Rocha has voiced criticism of ADCC’s long-standing approach to athlete compensation…
Contrasting it with recent efforts by the IBJJF to provide financial incentives for competitors.
In a social media post, Rocha highlighted what he sees as a major disparity between tournaments that reward athletes financially and those that rely primarily on prestige.
His remarks followed an IBJJF Thursday night Grand Prix event, that featured both show money and a $50,000 prize purse for participants:
It’s interesting that a smaller bracket can offer show money and $50K while the “most prestigious” event in grappling happens every two years and expects athletes to compete for free.
Prestige is cool. Valuing athletes is cooler.
Rocha’s criticism arrives at a time when athlete pay has become one of the most discussed topics in professional grappling.
ADCC, widely regarded as the sport’s premier tournament, historically did not offer show money to competitors.
That changed in 2024 when the organization introduced appearance pay for the first time.
Many within the grappling community have connected that shift to pressure created by rival events, particularly Craig Jones’ CJI event.
For example, ADCC 2024 competitor Brandon Reed recently pointed to that influence:
Even me as an ADCC athlete, I got paid $2,500 to show up at ADCC, even though I lost in the first round.
That was not going to happen if it wasn’t for Craig Jones.
I have nothing against ADCC at all, but it was nice to get paid for it.
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