bjjproblems.com — every take, since 2013
Every snarky take on real BJJ news.
Jun 16, 2026, 08:52 PM
ADCC Removed Its Public Invite List After Fans Found a Fugitive, a Nazi-Salute Account, and a Post-Cardiac Competitor on the Bracket
ADCC operates on the honor system. You trust that the organization vetting the world's best submission grapplers for its marquee event has done some kind of basic due diligence before emailing out invitations.
Jun 16, 2026, 08:22 PM
When ADCC Invited Josh Saunders Despite CJI's Public Exclusion on Character Grounds
When ADCC released its invite list for the year's championship event, Josh Saunders landed in the +99 kg bracket at what remains the most prestigious submission grappling competition on earth. It should have been a straightforward achievement story: a former professional rugby le
Jun 16, 2026, 06:06 PM
Jay Rodriguez Is Showing Up At Open Mats Again — Community Photographers Have Started Identifying Him On Sight
The defense was always architectural. He's not there during public hours.
Jun 16, 2026, 05:36 PM
Felipe Costa Boils 'How To Get Good At BJJ' Down To One Rule: First In — Roll Until The Lights Go Off
That's the whole formula. Felipe Costa, the guy who won an IBJJF World Championship at black belt without ever winning gold at any lower belt, was asked how to get good at BJJ.
Jun 16, 2026, 05:05 PM
ADCC Invited Josh Saunders to Worlds — The Same Man Who Performs Nazi Salutes on Video
It landed like a grenade that nobody wanted to pick up. Back on May 3rd, BJJDoc announced that ADCC had extended invitations to several competitors for the 2026 World Championship, and tucked into that list was Josh Saunders, slotted into the Men's +99kg division.
Jun 16, 2026, 04:05 PM
Tom DeBlass Said 'Don't Be That Guy' About Messaging Women — His Actual Argument Was About Consistency, Not Silence
Tom DeBlass posted an Instagram Reel about messaging women after class, and it did what these videos always do: split the room. Half the BJJ community nodded along, half felt defensive, and almost everyone missed what he was actually arguing.
Jun 16, 2026, 03:35 PM
Brazilian BJJ Coach Arrested After Surveillance Footage Showed Him Choking His Wife — Out On R$1,621 Bail Same Day
Something happened in the suburbs around Curitiba that should have shocked the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world but instead felt, to anyone paying attention, almost routine. That's roughly $300 American—somewhere between a Shoyoroll preorder and a one-day seminar fee.
Jun 16, 2026, 02:23 PM
Gianni Grippo Is Back in ADCC — First Invite in 11 Years, Won Trials at 34 With Zero Conceded Points
Nobody scored on Gianni Grippo at ADCC West Coast Trials. Seven matches, five submissions, zero points conceded across the entire -66kg bracket.
Jun 16, 2026, 01:53 PM
Adele Fornarino Is ADCC Absolute Champion. She Can't Sell a Seminar in Australia.
Adele Fornarino walked out of the 2024 ADCC World Championships with two titles: the -55kg championship and the absolute. She was the first Australian to win anything at ADCC, ever.
Jun 16, 2026, 01:23 PM
Carlos Gracie Jr. Got The Red Belt This Week — Whom IBJJF Once Demoted
On Saturday, April 25, IBJJF founder Carlos Gracie Jr. received his ninth-degree red belt at the Gracie Barra 40th anniversary summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Jun 16, 2026, 12:22 PM
BJJ Coach André Seabra Publicly Demoted A Brown Belt Back To Blue On Camera For 'Disobeying His Mother' — Community Splits On Whether Belts Reflect Skill Or Behavior
André Seabra hit the record button before he hit the belt. The Brazilian coach who runs Instituto Fazendo a Diferença no Jiu-Jitsu posted a video on April 14 in which he removed the brown belt from his student Igor, who he called his 'champion' on camera, and replaced it with a b
Jun 16, 2026, 11:52 AM
A Jury Just Ruled Ticketmaster An Illegal Monopoly — Meanwhile Grappling Fans Need Five Separate Paywalls To Watch Their Sport
A federal jury in Manhattan handed down a verdict on April 17th that should have felt like a watershed moment for any fan tired of paying gatekeepers. After a five-week trial, they ruled that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had operated an illegal monopoly, stifled competition, and
Jun 16, 2026, 10:30 AM
Strickland Says He Stood Up to His Abusive Father at 13 — That's the Fight He's Been Having Ever Since
Khamzat Chimaev posted a photo of Sean Strickland alongside his father and wrote: "You can cry that's okay… your father make you a girl." This is the same button Dricus du Plessis pressed at their presser — which is how du Plessis ended up getting rushed. Chimaev either didn't re
Jun 16, 2026, 10:00 AM
BJJ Apparel Brand's Charity Filed $0 In Goods-And-Services Revenue Three Years Running; Founder Demanded The Investigator Sign An NDA Before He'd Even Answer The Question
Three years of charity filings. Zero revenue from goods and services.
Jun 16, 2026, 09:30 AM
Active Police Investigator Melqui Galvao Allegedly Used His Badge To Block Misconduct Complaints For Years. A 13-Minute Voice Memo Did Not Care.
Melqui Galvao wasn't coaching as a private citizen. He was an active civil police investigator in the state of Amazonas.
Jun 16, 2026, 08:53 AM
Two UFC Champions Publish 'How To Spot A Good BJJ Gym' Checklists On The Same Day — The Floor Is Apparently So Low, This Passes For Insight In 2026
On April 17, 2026, Matt Serra — UFC 69 veteran, Renzo Gracie black belt, and owner of Serra BJJ in Huntington, New York — posted a checklist to Instagram titled "How To Spot A Good BJJ Gym." Does the head coach actually roll with students? How are newer students treated when they
Jun 16, 2026, 08:13 AM
Matheus Araujo Held The Choke Past The Tap — Both Camps Stormed The Cage
São Paulo hosted a moment that would define the entire ethics conversation around the Jungle Fight welterweight grand prix. On April 27th, at Jungle Fight 149's main event, Matheus 'The Monster' Araujo got a rear-naked choke on Anderson Nascimento under three minutes into round o
Jun 16, 2026, 07:43 AM
Aljamain Sterling Out-Grappled A 17-Sub-Streak Featherweight For 50 Minutes—UFC Vegas 116 Was Khabib-School Back Control For Five Rounds
At UFC Vegas 116 on April 25, Aljamain Sterling won a five-round unanimous decision over Youssef Zalal, 49-45 across all three judges' scorecards. That score is what BJJ looks like when it works perfectly.
Jun 15, 2026, 08:22 PM
Kayla Harrison Is Back Training After Neck Surgery — The UFC Women's Bantamweight Champ Who Called Rousey a Liar Is Now Targeting a Return
Kayla Harrison was two weeks out from defending her UFC women's bantamweight title when the UFC flew her to New York and doctors gave her two options: have neck surgery immediately, or risk paralysis. That was late January.
Jun 15, 2026, 07:48 PM
Mikey Musumeci Is Training Wrestling and Boxing for an MMA Debut — The Butt-Scoot Champion Is Tired of Being Called a Wimp
Mikey Musumeci has five BJJ world titles. He's the current UFC BJJ Bantamweight Champion.
Jun 15, 2026, 07:34 AM
Brianna Ste-Marie Sits for 3-Hour Competition Advice Interview — Top Pointers Land
Most pro BJJ podcast appearances run 38 minutes, three of which are actually about jiu-jitsu. The rest is a predictable rotation: "how'd you start training," a camp recap, a Submeta plug, a sponsor read that the host doesn't believe in, and a polite sign-off where the interviewer
Jun 14, 2026, 04:20 PM
Mikey Musumeci Says He Wants to Fight MMA by End of 2026 — 'I've Been Called a Butt-Scooper and Wimp Long Enough, I Just Want to Scrap'
Mikey Musumeci has finally heard enough. The reigning UFC BJJ bantamweight champion confirmed on a recent podcast appearance, circulating on grappling feeds all week, that he plans to make his MMA debut before the end of 2026.
Jun 14, 2026, 07:38 AM
William Tackett Caught Biting Rocha On Camera — UFC BJJ Has Not Issued A Statement, A Fine, Or Even A Raised Eyebrow
William Tackett retained his UFC BJJ welterweight title on April 2, 2026, with a unanimous decision over Vagner Rocha at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. The match itself looked clean enough on the surface.
Jun 13, 2026, 05:35 PM
Craig Jones Cancels CJI 3, Keeps the Money
Craig Jones killed the tournament that bears his name. Not because the market didn't support it.
Jun 13, 2026, 04:34 PM
Ryan Hall Chose MMA Over Sport BJJ. The Grappling World Is Mad About It.
Ryan Hall just threw down a statement that the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community has been tip-toeing around for years: if he could pick one, he'd choose MMA over sport jiu-jitsu. On May 29, 2026, Hall sat down on Matt Serra's podcast and said it plainly.
Jun 13, 2026, 04:01 PM
Jon Jones Isn't Going to the White House Tomorrow—And That's the Entire Story
Ilia Topuria is defending his lightweight title at the White House tomorrow. Bo Nickal—a middleweight with legitimate grappling pedigree—is on the card.
Jun 13, 2026, 03:32 PM
Islam Makhachev Has No BJJ Black Belt But Knows Exactly Which MMA Fighters' Black Belts Are Fake
Islam Makhachev doesn't have a BJJ black belt. His grappling came up through combat sambo — world champion in 2016 — and Russian wrestling.
Jun 13, 2026, 02:17 PM
Jeff Glover Wants to Fight the Guy Who Says He Trained with Rickson — After Kron Already Said He Didn't
Kron Gracie already called it. Jeff Glover wants to prove it.
Jun 13, 2026, 01:46 PM
Rafael Mendes Retirement: Brothers Debunk Doping Myth
Rafael Mendes should've been one of the faces of jiu-jitsu for the next decade. Double ADCC champion.
Jun 13, 2026, 01:16 PM
Karel Pravec: Keep the Olympics Away From Jiu-Jitsu — Rules Will Ruin It
The irony is so obvious it hurts: jiu-jitsu spent thirty years fighting for mainstream recognition—for seats at the table, for media coverage, for the legitimacy that comes with Olympic inclusion. Now that it might actually get there, practitioners are looking at what happened to