Global Trends Across All Divisions

Keeping in trend with past ADCC data dumps, the rear-naked choke reigned supreme at 2019 ADCC World Championships.

Thirteen out of the tournament's 35 submissions came via the "Mata Leão," with numerous competitors making use of wresting scrambles to jump on their opponent's back and secure the finish. It's also no surprise that the RNC was king given the positional requirements of no-gi grappling — maintaining side control and mount is difficult and inefficient, while getting to the back provides the ultimate control.

The fearsome heel hook was also in play, coming in second place to the RNC with nine finishes. But there was a surprising twist: six of the nine heel hook finishes occurred in the absolute division. We can only speculate as to why the heel hook's efficiency skyrocketed in the open weight bracket, but one has to think that the lack of familiarity that opponents had with one another could be a factor.

The Specialists

Lachlan Giles: The Heel Hook

"The People's Champ" Lachlan Giles jumps to the top of the list here with one of the most epic stories from the event: The 77kg competitor submitted three MASSIVE +99kg opponents with the heel hook.

Perhaps the best feel-good story to come out of the tournament, Lachlan forever became a legend with his brutal efficiency and amazing finishes.

Gordon Ryan: King Of The Back Attack

The days of Gordon Ryan getting called a leglock guy are long behind us — and have been for some time — but the 2019 double gold winner reiterated that fact by finishing five of his six submissions by RNC.

Gordon's back takes were extremely creative throughout the tournament; he systematically destroyed the turtle of his opponents and was quick to counter off a sprawl. The truck even made an appearance in the -99kg semifinal against Lucas "Hulk" Barbosa.  

It should be also noted that Gordon also made extensive use of the one-armed variation of the RNC, finishing both Vinicius "Trator" Ferreira and Garry Tonon with the technique. 

Tim Spriggs: Guillotine Machine

Spriggs didn't get as far in the tournament as he would have liked, but the TLI competitor can hold his head up high for snagging two of the most savage submissions from the weekend.

All-Rounders

Craig Jones

If you haven't seen Craig's matches from the weekend, you might have been surprised to see his name fall under the all-rounders header, but the Australian grappler hit three different subs from drastically different positions: a heel hook, an RNC, and an arm-in guillotine.

Craig's game has clearly evolved significantly since his last appearance at ADCC, and he appears to be rapidly adding new weapons to his arsenal.

Bianca Basilio

Bianca Basilio submitted two out of three of her opponents (women have one less round than the men's divisions) and utilized a variety of attacks on her quest for -60kg gold.  

Given Basilio's pedigree as being predominantly a gi athlete, we were impressed with her comfort executing the modern leglock attacks and cycling through various leg entanglements like a season no-gi pro. 

Her savage toehold submission over Ffion Davies in the final was among the most brutal of the entire event.

The Raw Data Sorted By Athlete

Sights & Sounds from ADCC 2019