Timeframe: 25 years of Abu Dhabi Combat Club as the pinnacle of submission sports

The success of ADCC has propelled jiu-jitsu to new heights in the UAE and beyond

A still from Japan TV's ADCC 1999 Submission Fighting World Championship Highlights. Photo: Riccardo Ammendolia / YouTube

For anyone passionate about martial arts or wrestling, the name Abu Dhabi Combat Club is synonymous with excellence. Widely regarded as the pinnacle of submission grappling competitions, the club’s Submission Fighting World Championship has been held every two years since its founding in 1998, asides from a brief hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The club and namesake competition were founded by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed, National Security Adviser and Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi, who was first exposed to mixed martial arts when studying in the US. After watching the inaugural UFC pay-per-view in 1993, won by Brazilian jiu-jitsu master Royce Gracie, Sheikh Tahnoun began training in the sport at Gracie Barra San Diego with Nelson Monteiro in San Diego, California.

It was there that Sheikh Tahnoun met Renzo Gracie, another member of the famed Gracie family – pioneers of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Their meeting helped to solidify the concept of the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Championship.

Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed founded Abu Dhabi Combat Club in 1998. Photo: Supreme Council for National Security

In a previous interview with The National, Renzo Gracie, a repeat ADCC champion and Hall of Famer who awarded Sheikh Tahnoun his black belt, recalled: “Sheikh Tahnoun came to visit me in New York, my first academy, in 1996,” Gracie said. “We became friends. He invited me to come to his country.”

After returning to the UAE, Sheikh Tahnoun's passion soared to new heights, as he set about establishing a new global benchmark for martial arts excellence. Hoping to drive martial arts interest and growth in the UAE, he established the Abu Dhabi Combat Club itself as an institution with a world class facility, staffed by top level instructors of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, judo, wrestling, sambo and other martial arts. Sheikh Tahnoun asked Nelson Monteiro from Gracie Barra to help him run it.

But this was just the start. The next step was to create an entirely new type of martial arts tournament, to put ADCC on the map, with Abu Dhabi as not just the capital of jiu-jitsu but all submission martial arts. As he advanced in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, Sheikh Tahnoun became keen to balance the tradition’s lack of focus on lower body submissions by training in other sports, such as Russian sambo, wrestling and judo.

The National first visited Abu Dhabi Combat Club in 2008 to see Laith Al Sharjit (in blue), then 15, sparring with Ahmed Al Mazam (in white), then 22, as instructor Carlos Santos watches. Philip Cheung / The National

However, with each discipline following different rules, it was hard to determine which truly was the most effective. Determined to offer a fair platform for all, Sheikh Tahnoun invented a new competition with a revolutionary set of rules; allowing most submission attacks, aside from spinal manoeuvres, which created a level playing field. Moreover, banning strikes was an added bonus for competitors hoping to compare their grappling games.

ADCC brought in a new modality of Submission Fighting, with 16 competitions spread across five weight divisions – complete with generous monetary prizes. These, coupled with the UAE’s exotic location, led to what Royler Gracie described as the start of "the modern era of submission grappling”.

Held over three days in March 1998, despite its novelty and infancy, the first ADCC competition lured some of the world’s best grapplers. When they returned home to spread the word, the event’s popularity soared, as more top fighters flocked to the tournament every year – becoming so popular the ADCC had to bring in regional qualifying trials.

In a previous interview, Kid Peligro, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and author of several instructional books, said: "It was very hard to get fighters to come over since no one really knew much about ADCC and Abu Dhabi.

"But after the very first one – when the fighters came back and told their friends how great everything was and how well they were treated – it all changed and everyone then wanted to compete. I was getting so many calls from fighters wanting to make sure they got invited to the next edition it was incredible.”

Over the years, stars from the UFC and Japanese promotions Pride and K1, such as Royler Gracie, Tito Ortiz and Mark Kerr have taken part in the event, which has since branched out to venues all over the world, from Brazil to China. Today, ADCC is widely regarded as the “Olympics of grappling”. Last year’s finals were held in front of a crowd of 13,000 in Las Vegas, where it is set to return in August 2024.

The 2022 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship was held in front of a crowd of 13,000 in Las Vegas. Photo: Abu Dhabi Combat Club

Simultaneously, jiu-jitsu has thrived in the UAE, adopted by the Abu Dhabi Education Council in 2008 as part of the curriculum of public schools in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region, and also becoming mandatory in the police and the military.

Peligro said : "In the beginning it was just the vision of Sheikh Tahnoun and his energy that brought this all to what it is now.

"He was the heart and mind of this entire revolution, along with help from his brothers [President] Sheikh Mohamed and Sheikh Hazza [bin Zayed].”

He added: "I am very proud to have been there from the early days and have the opportunity to be a part of it and to witness the greatness of Sheikh Tahnoun's vision come to life in such a grand way."