The ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship is an international submissiongrappling competition, organised by the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC).[2] The inaugural tournament was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE in 1998. It has been held every two years since 2001, except in 2021 due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Host countries have included Brazil, China, Finland, Spain, the UK, and the US.
Competitors can only participate after winning ADCC trials or by invitation.[3] While most athletes are primarily from Brazilian jiu-jitsu, it is open to competitors from any grappling style. ADCC is considered the most prestigious submission grappling tournament in the world, and is commonly referred to as "the Olympics of grappling".[4][5]
Mo Jassim took over as head organizer ready for ADCC 2019 and has since made sweeping changes to the organization. He announced that he had plans for adding more women's divisions and allowing reigning absolute champions to compete in weight-classes despite being booked for the main event superfight.[11] It was announced in 2020 that for the first time in the competition's history, there would be more than two years between editions due to the setbacks suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 edition of the ADCC World Championships would then take place in 2022 instead, and would still be helmed by Jassim.[12] After the success of the 2022 ADCC World Championship, it was announced that Jassim would return for the 2024 ADCC World Championship be the first person to operate as head organizer for three editions.[13]
In January 2023, ADCC announced an exclusive multi-year streaming deal with UFC Fight Pass and left their previous broadcaster FloSports.[14] Just three months later on April 27, 2023, ADCC announced that they would be returning to FloSports for the foreseeable future.[15]
On June 25, 2023, it was announced that the following edition of the ADCC World Championship would include three women's weight classes, marking the first time since 2007 that there was more than two available.[16] It was also later announced that this the 2024 ADCC World Championship would also be the first edition to include a women's absolute division since 2007.[17] On July 17, 2023, head organizer Mo Jassim announced that there would be a children's version of the ADCC World Championship held for the first time during the 2024 edition of the tournament.[18]