Just last week the ADCC finals suffered two huge blows in the same category with the loss of the last tournament’s silver medalist, AJ Agazarm and this year’s IBJJF world champion, Mikey Musumeci. You’d be forgiven for thinking this was the worst that could happen but sadly, you’d be wrong.
That’s right, the reigning ADCC Champion, Cobrinha, has just been announced as the third (and hopefully final) competitor to remove themselves from the tournament (h/t Flograppling). This left three spots available in the -66kg category and thankfully, ADCC has managed to right the ship and find world-class competitors ready to step in on a moment’s notice.
Richard Alarcon, the 2019 EBI Combat Jiu-Jitsu Bantamweight champion, impressed enough in that and his journey to bronze in the ADCC West Coast Trials to earn one of those spots. He was then quickly followed by one half of the latest set of twin prodigies in BJJ, Tye Ruotolo, who is by far the youngest competitor in the entire tournament at only 16 years old.
The final spot has been allocated to Cobrinha’s own son and previous No-gi world champion, Kennedy Maciel. While the -66kg category has lost some of it’s star-power with the recent pull-outs, it definitely hasn’t lost any of it’s intrigue with the addition of two up-and-coming grapplers added to the fold alongside a veteran of the professional scene who’s just started to hit his competitive stride. This, alongside the fact that none of this year’s entrants have won ADCC gold in the past should make for an incredibly unpredictable division.
In a video uploaded to his youtube channel, Cobrinha has stated he pulled out because ADCC wouldn’t invite Kennedy while his father was still in the bracket.
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