The 2026 ADCC World Championships delivered some incredible grappling, but from a New Zealand perspective, two men’s divisions had a little extra significance: -77 kg and +99 kg

Why those two?

Because at the second 2026 ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials, two Kiwi grapplers punched their tickets to the biggest stage in submission grappling.

Kaya Rudolph qualified at -77 kg.

Belal Etiabari qualified at +99 kg.

That historic achievement was something we covered in our Historic 2026 ADCC Asia Oceania Trials Recap.

We’ll be taking a much closer look at Kaya and Belal’s individual World Championship runs in separate articles. For this one, I wanted to follow the two divisions they qualified for all the way to the end.

Who eventually stood on top of the mountain?

At -77 kg, Russian Trials winner Magomed Dzharbaev battled PJ Barch through an extraordinary 40-minute wrestling marathon before winning by decision.

At +99 kg, Victor Hugo took an entirely different route, abandoning a prolonged standing battle and eventually submitting Australia’s Josh Saunders.

Two divisions. Two completely different finals.

And two very different demonstrations of what ADCC grappling can look like.

Why These Two ADCC Divisions Matter to New Zealand

Before getting into the finals, it’s worth remembering how significant this ADCC cycle was for New Zealand grappling.

At the second Asia & Oceania Trials, Kaya Rudolph won -77 kg and Belal Etiabari won +99 kg, earning their places at the 2026 ADCC World Championships.

That’s not an invitation.

You have to win your way there.

It’s part of what makes the ADCC Trials system so brutal and so special.

And it also provides an interesting connection to our eventual -77 kg World Champion.

Magomed Dzharbaev wasn’t simply handed an invitation either.

He earned his place through the Trials.

PJ Barch, on the other hand, entered the 2026 World Championships as an invited competitor.

That set up an interesting contrast for the final: an established invited athlete against another man who had fought his way through the qualifying system.

Magomed Dzharbaev vs PJ Barch – ADCC 2026 -77 kg Final

I’ll get this out of the way immediately.

Twenty-minute finals are long.

And this one was about to become much longer than that.

Early in the match, Dzharbaev and Barch turned the final into a high-level wrestling battle.

I’m a wrestling fan. I love seeing good wrestling incorporated into Jiu-Jitsu.

But there were moments where I wanted somebody to take a risk.

Shoot.

Pull guard.

Attack something.

Do something.

Both men were clearly respecting the other’s wrestling ability, and that created a highly technical but conservative opening.

Then Dzharbaev started showing us what he had.

Magomed’s Wrestling Started Coming Alive

One of the first things that stood out was the sheer power Dzharbaev could generate from his snap-downs.

Barch is no stranger to wrestling exchanges, yet Magomed was able to snap him all the way down onto the mat seemingly out of nowhere.

Then the layers started appearing.

Arm drags.

Foot sweeps.

Level changes.

Double-leg feints.

Rear body-lock attacks.

And some seriously fast transitions between them.

At one point, Dzharbaev got behind Barch with control around the hips and drove the exchange all the way across the competition area before they were reset.

Later came a beautiful arm-drag and foot-sweep sequence.

What started becoming apparent was that Dzharbaev wasn’t simply a strong wrestler.

He looked like a cerebral wrestler.

There seemed to be an idea behind the sequences.

Show one threat.

Get the reaction.

Move immediately into the next.

And when he decided to accelerate, he was bloody fast.

PJ Barch Refused to Give Up the Wrestling Battle

What also surprised me was how committed PJ remained to wrestling.

Coming from 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, plenty of fans associate that lineage with creative guard systems, lockdowns, rubber guard, Twister attacks and unconventional ground positions.

But Barch wasn’t interested in simply conceding the standing battle.

He kept wrestling.

One of his nicest attacks came during overtime when he used the hand fight to create an opening before dropping onto a single leg on the opposite side.

Beautiful timing.

And that became an important part of this final.

It wasn’t simply Magomed attacking while PJ survived.

Barch was actively trying to solve the same wrestling puzzle.

Twenty Minutes Wasn’t Enough

The regulation period ended 0-0.

So after twenty minutes of wrestling, they went into overtime.

Another ten minutes.

At this point, calling the match a marathon rather than a sprint felt pretty accurate.

Late in the first overtime, Dzharbaev finally produced one of his strongest takedown sequences.

He got deep on Barch’s legs, put him down and established top pressure while PJ worked from turtle.

Watching live, I was wondering the same thing plenty of viewers probably were:

Where are Magomed’s points?

The scoreboard remained 0-0.

Barch eventually began turning toward guard, and for one of the first times in nearly half an hour we finally started seeing something resembling a traditional guard-versus-passer exchange.

Magomed chose to remain on top and look to pass.

But even ten minutes of overtime couldn’t separate them.

So they went again.

Forty Minutes of Grappling

Yes.

Forty minutes.

Twenty minutes regulation.

Ten minutes overtime.

Then another ten minutes.

At that point, regardless of what you think about the format, the conditioning involved deserves respect.

My own view watching the match was that Dzharbaev had gradually established himself as the slightly more dominant wrestler.

The scoreboard didn’t necessarily show it.

But the repeated snap-downs, takedown threats, positional pressure and ability to disrupt Barch’s base were beginning to add up.

PJ still refused to simply accept bottom.

Even deep into the second overtime, he continued trying to wrestle Magomed rather than settling into a guard game.

Then came the final seconds.

And fittingly, Magomed was still attacking.

Dzharbaev elevated Barch on a single-leg attempt and drove the final exchange toward the ground as time expired.

After forty minutes, the official score remained 0-0.

It would come down to a decision.

Magomed Dzharbaev Becomes ADCC -77 kg World Champion

When the decision was announced, Magomed Dzharbaev had won the 2026 ADCC -77 kg World Championship.

For me, it was the right outcome based on what I’d just watched.

The scoreboard couldn’t capture the entire story of that match.

Magomed’s wrestling pressure, attacking sequences and ability to repeatedly create the more threatening exchanges ultimately stood out across an incredibly close forty-minute contest.

But what happened immediately afterwards was just as good to see.

After spending forty minutes trying to impose their games on one another, Dzharbaev and Barch sat together on the mat exchanging words.

Magomed put an arm around PJ.

When his own hand was raised, he also acknowledged Barch.

Then his team absolutely erupted.

Dzharbaev was lifted into the air repeatedly as his corner celebrated around him.

A Trials winner had become a World Champion.

From -77 kg to the Giants: ADCC +99 kg

Next came the division connected to New Zealand’s other historic qualifier.

Belal Etiabari earned his +99 kg place by winning the second Asia & Oceania Trials.

His World Championship journey would ultimately cross paths with one of the biggest names in grappling, Felipe Peña.

We’re going to give Belal’s run the attention it deserves in its own article rather than squeezing it into a couple of paragraphs here.

But the +99 kg bracket eventually produced a final between Australian powerhouse Josh Saunders and Brazilian star Victor Hugo.

And after watching Dzharbaev and Barch wrestle for forty minutes, I was curious to see what the big boys would give us.

Victor Hugo vs Josh Saunders – ADCC 2026 +99 kg Final

The opening wasn’t exactly fireworks.

Once again, we got a prolonged standing battle.

Lots of collar ties.

Lots of hand fighting.

Lots of positioning.

With two +99 kg athletes, though, every little mistake carries a different consequence.

Early on, Victor Hugo hit a slick foot sweep that badly disrupted Saunders’ balance.

That caught my attention immediately.

For such a huge athlete, Victor looked surprisingly fluid.

Saunders appeared to be carrying more fatigue, while Hugo looked relaxed.

Almost like he was operating in a flow state.

But then the match settled back into the standing battle.

And I’ll admit it:

I wanted to see some Jiu-Jitsu.

Then Victor Hugo Changed the Entire Match

After another wrestling exchange, Saunders attempted a big uchi-mata-style attack.

Hugo went down but recovered quickly.

They returned to their feet.

And then Victor made the decision I’d been waiting for.

He pulled guard.

I loved it.

Not because pulling guard is inherently better than wrestling.

It isn’t.

But because Hugo recognised that continuing the same battle wasn’t necessarily getting him where he wanted to go.

Instead of insisting on winning every phase of the match, he changed the phase entirely.

That’s Jiu-Jitsu.

Forget the Negatives – Victor Went Hunting

Victor received another negative while working from guard.

At that point, protecting a decision clearly wasn’t going to be enough.

He needed something.

And suddenly the entire match changed.

Hugo began attacking from underneath.

The position developed rapidly into a series of entanglements and upper-body controls as Saunders attempted to work his way through Victor’s guard.

Then Victor started climbing.

He began getting around Saunders.

A hook appeared.

Back exposure followed.

Then came the submission configuration.

After spending the opening portion of the final watching two giants wrestle, we suddenly had Victor Hugo wrapped around Josh Saunders and attacking the finish.

And then—

Tap.

Just like that, it was over.

Victor Hugo had submitted Josh Saunders with 8:49 elapsed, becoming the 2026 ADCC +99 kg World Champion.

Two Champions, Two Completely Different Roads

Watching these two finals back-to-back was a reminder of what makes ADCC so interesting.

Magomed Dzharbaev won through patience, wrestling pressure and an almost absurd forty-minute battle of attrition.

Victor Hugo won by changing the terms of the fight.

When the standing battle wasn’t producing what he needed, he went to guard, created chaos and found the submission.

Neither approach is inherently better.

They’re simply different expressions of grappling.

And that’s exactly what I want to see at this level.

Wrestle.

Pass.

Pull guard when it makes tactical sense.

Wrestle back up.

Attack legs.

Attack the back.

Chase submissions.

Make your opponent solve different problems.

That’s submission grappling.

And What About Kaya Rudolph and Belal Etiabari?

That’s where we’re going next.

This article was about the men who ultimately became World Champions in the two divisions New Zealand had qualified athletes for.

But the Kiwi stories deserve their own space.

Kaya Rudolph competed in the same -77 kg bracket ultimately won by Magomed Dzharbaev.

Belal Etiabari competed in the +99 kg bracket ultimately won by Victor Hugo.

Rather than reducing those performances to a paragraph each, we’ll be breaking down their individual 2026 ADCC World Championship runs separately — including the matches, tactical decisions and what their performances mean for the continuing development of high-level New Zealand grappling.

If you haven’t already, start with our Historic 2026 ADCC Asia Oceania Trials Recap to see how Kaya Rudolph and Belal Etiabari earned their places at Worlds.

And if you’re newer to the sport and want to understand how we got from traditional Japanese grappling to the modern submission-grappling world we see at events like ADCC, check out our History of BJJ: How Judo in Brazil Evolved Into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

For the New Zealand side of the story, you can also explore our BJJ Guides NZ hub, including our coverage of the history and development of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Aotearoa.

The Kiwi presence on the biggest stages is growing.

And we’re going to keep documenting the journey.

Next up: Kaya Rudolph and Belal Etiabari at the 2026 ADCC World Championships.

Wear Your Journey.

— Go-Getter Gi