The penultimate ADCC Trials event is now complete and the total amount of competitors confirmed for Worlds in September stands at over 85%. One of Europe's top P4P black belts, Tommy Langaker came out of nowhere to claim his spot in the 77kg division. He'll join South American Trials winner Mica Galvao, who was busy in Brazil winning his first major IBJJF title as a black belt. What was a dream match-up suddenly became very possible. 

Read on for a breakdown of who won the Trials in Europe, along with a recap of the Brasileiros, a highly-significant gi event that has serious implications for the IBJJF World Championships next month. 

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Watch upcoming events Live or On-Demand on FloGrappling:

• Fight to Win 202, May 14
• Finishers Only Survivor Series 2, May 29     
• 2022 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, June 1-5    
• Summit Fighting Championships, June 4    
• Midwest Finishers Sub Only, June 18     
• 2022 ADCC Asia & Oceania Trial, June 18    
• American National IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship, June 30-July 2     
• Pan Kids Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship, July 23-24    

Luke Griffith (left) and Dan Manasoiu of New Wave

ADCC 2022 Continues to Take Shape Following Euro Trials

Seven more competitors confirmed their participation at the 2022 ADCC World Championships later this year. The Trials in Poland, which gave grapplers from Europe, the Middle East and Africa a chance to qualify, attracted competitors from places as far apart as Iceland and South Africa. 

The standout performances included that of Tommy Langaker of Norway. He rarely competes in no-gi competition – this is only his second no-gi tournament in four years – but he came in well-prepared and earned four submissions in seven matches in the hyper-competitive 77kg division, including a RNC against the dangerous Mateusz Szczeciński in the final. Langaker’s not done with the gi now he’s an official ADCC competitor – he says he’s going to compete at IBJJF Worlds in June. 

-99kg Trials winner Luke Griffith puts on the squeeze

New Wave Jiu-jitsu put another two competitors into the world championships with Luke Griffith of South Africa qualifying at -99 kg and “Big Dan”, aka Dan Manasoiu, a dual national US-Romanian earning a place in the +99 kg division. That gives the team a total of seven representatives at at ADCC in September, with Garry Tonon and Oliver Taza at -77kg, Giancarlo Bodoni at -88kg, Nicholas Meregali and Luke Griffith at -99kg and Gordon Ryan and Big Dan at +99kg. 

• Sam McNally became the second-ever Irish grappler to qualify for ADCC. He tore through the under 66 kg division winning five of six matches via submission. The Dublin-based grappler utilized a mix of arm and leg locks to take the gold. 
• Julia Maele became the second Norwegian at this event to qualify, winning the under 60 kg division, beating the South African opponent Peyton Letcher via decision in the final. 
• Cyprus qualified their first ever representative in the women’s +60 kg division with Eleftheria Christodolou beating Ane Svendson of Norway in the final. 
• Finnish grapplers have a long and rich history of competing at ADCC and Santeri Lilius became the third Finn to punch his ticket to the 2022 Worlds following his countrymen Perttu Tepponen and Heikki Jussila, victorious at the previous trials events, and the invited Elvira Karppinen.

Post-event interviews:

• Sam McNally Proud To Represent Ireland At ADCC
• Tommy Langaker Wins ADCC Trials After 4 Years Away From No-Gi
• "Probably One Of The Best Days Of My Life" Santeri Lilius On Winning Trials
• Luke Griffith Joins Huge Roster Of New Wave Athletes At ADCC With Trials Win
• Big Dan Overcomes Terrible 6 Months With Victory At European Trials
• Norway's Julia Maele Wins ADCC Trials In First Attempt
• Cypriot Eleftheria Christodolou Dedicates ADCC Trials Win To Ukranian Teammates

Tommy Langaker ADCC Trials Submissions Only Highlight

Now that Tommy Langaker has qualified for ADCC there is the very real chance that he could face off with Mica Galvao, who won the 77kg division in the ADCC South American Trials in February. This sets up a potential clash between two of the sport's hungriest submission hunters, and all-around most entertaining grapplers. We can only hope they land on the same side of the bracket.  

Click here for The Official Competitor List: Who's In For ADCC 2022 World Championship

In total, the countries qualified at the most recent ADCC Trials include Ireland, Norway, Finland, South Africa, Romania and Cyprus. This adds plenty of international flavor to an already-diverse event. There is only one more Trials event to take place, which will allow Asian and Oceania-based grapplers to qualify. That takes place in Sydney in July.

• Click here for all finals from the ADCC Trials

The Big Winners at Brasileiros: IBJJF Brazilian Nationals Results

Nicholas Meregali (pictured above), Mica Galvao and Mason Fowler were among the stars of the Brazilian National Championships that took place over the weekend in São Paulo, Brazil.

All three submitted their opponents in the finals with Meregali tapping out Fellipe Andrew, Galvao winning the middleweight division with a stunning armbar against Servio Tulio, and Mason Fowler submitting Pedro Alex Pimenta to become only the third American male to win a black belt Brazilian national championship title.

Mica Galvao's gold medal-winning armbar

Incredibly, all three of the above names won their divisions with 100% submission rates. Meregali looked more relaxed than ever, clearing out the line-up at super-heavyweight with ease. Mica Galvao’s razor-sharp technique was on full display, and Mason Fowler earned the admiration and respect of the passionate Brazilian audience thanks to his dynamic attacking jiu-jitsu. 

Featherweight champ Fabricio Andrey

Other standout performances include: 

• Gutemberg Pereira claimed the gold medal in the absolute division with an impressive and dominant performance against Marcus Scooby, securing an arm-triangle choke from mount after taking a 16-point lead. 
• Fight Sports Manaus members Diogo Reis and Fabricio Andrey took light-featherweight and featherweight gold, respectively. In their finals Reis beat tough-as-nails São Paulo local Cleber Sousa while Andrey outworked and outpointed Kennedy Maciel. Brenda Larissa won the female light-featherweight gold with a submission against Jessica Caroline. 
• Mayssa Bastos, Nathalie Ribeiro and Gabi Pessanha could all possibly complete the IBJJF Grand Slam this year after winning gold in São Paulo. The Brasileiros gold follow identical performances at Euros and Pans. Only a gold at Worlds is now needed for each of them to claim this major achievement. 
• Pablo Lavaselli made history by winning the gold medal in the lightweight black belt division, the first Argentinian to do so.

Praise be – not one single blackbelt final at the IBJJF Brazilian National Championships ended via close out! Fans were treated to an event full of dynamic, submission-focused jiu-jitsu that highlighted some of Brazil’s most talented grapplers. Let’s hope that momentum continues into Worlds. 

Post-event interviews:

• Nicholas Meregali Subs Everyone, Aims For Double Gold At Worlds
• Mica Galvao Dominates At Brasileiros, Undecided About Worlds Weight

Watch highlights from Brasileiros: 

• Gutemberg Pereira Wins Brasileiros Absolute with Submission 
• Mason Fowler Gets the Sub, Wins Brasileiros!   
• Mica Galvao Wins Black Belt Gold at Brasileiros with Armbar 
• Nicholas Meregali Uses Takedown to Submission versus Fellipe Andrew

The Countdown to IBJJF Worlds

Somewhat overshadowed by the events in Sao Paulo and Poland was the IBJJF San Diego Open, one of the last possible chances for black belts to gain the necessary points that would allow them to qualify and compete at the upcoming world championships. Standout results include that of Adam Wardzinski, taking double gold, and Jonatha Alves, who won the stacked lightweight division.   

For the start of the 2022 Road to Worlds vlog series, we kick things off with Nicholas Meregali and Gordon Ryan training IN THE GI at New Wave! More videos coming soon...

2022 Road to Worlds Vlog: Nicholas Meregali and Gordon Ryan Train In the Gi

Watch training rounds from inside Dream Art in Brazil: 

• Isaque Bahiense Trains With Nicholas Meregali at Dream Art    
• Nonstop PRESSURE and ARMBARS from Nicholas Meregali    
• FULL ROUND: Nicholas Meregali Trains With Bolinho at Dream Art
• Erich Munis Shows Smooth SUBMISSIONS and SLICK Passing   

Watch the IBJJF World Championship contenders prepare for the biggest gi competition of the 2022 season with a mix of techniques and hard training rounds – click here for the full collection.