Helena Crevar doesn’t take half days. The pound-for-pound number one ranked grappler in the world arrived at Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu for her afternoon session having already wrapped up a morning workout hours earlier, with nothing more than a lunch break in between.
“Feeling great. Just finished a morning session around just an hour ago. So I went back home, had some lunch and back here for the second training session,” she said during her interview.
Crevar is preparing for a high-profile open-weight match against Paige Ivette Clymer, the West Coast Trials winner who will also be competing at ADCC 2026. The two are set to meet at ONE Championship, with the contest carrying added stakes given that they’ll share a division at the world championship as well.
“I’m really excited about it. This time it’s going to be an open-weight match. So I’ll be going a little higher up in weight. The weight limit is 175 lbs (79.4kg). And we’re going to be in the same division at ADCC.”
“But it’s going to be a really exciting match. She just won the West Coast Trials. So she’s a really tough opponent, and I’m excited to go to ONE Championship for the second time,” Crevar said.
When asked about what makes Paige a difficult opponent, Crevar pointed to both the size gap and the quality of her game.
“Definitely she is heavier than me. So kind of adjusting from going against girls that are my size to up in weight. But also she has a well-rounded game. So I’m sure that she’s going to be attacking a lot. She never really falls back or stalls, but I do the same. So I’m really just going to be going for the submission as always.”
The match is just one piece of a much larger picture. The bigger news surrounding Crevar heading into ADCC 2026 is her decision to move up to the over 65kg (143+ lbs) division, stepping away from the weight class where she first made her name on the international stage.
The reasoning is straightforward. Crevar has been walking around between 163 and 165 lbs (73.9-74.8kg) for the better part of the last six months, and dropping to the 143 lb (65kg) limit would demand a significant and uncomfortable cut.
“I’ve been walking around like between 163 and 165 lbs for around the last six months already. And even before that, the last few times I did 145 lbs, it was like a pretty big cut for me, like 15 pounds. So I kind of decided that it would be best for me to move up,” she explained.
Two years ago, when Crevar last competed in the under 65kg (143 lbs) division, she was only 17 years old. Her body, and her reputation, have grown considerably since then.
“I have to be cutting like 20 pounds to make the under 65. And that was two years ago that I did the under 65 division. I was 17 years old. So I just felt like it was the right decision to make to move up.”
“And you know, even though I’ll probably be the lightest person in the division, it’s still going to be a good challenge for me. And I also don’t like dieting at all. So that’s another reason.”
Moving up means stepping into a division anchored by some of the most established names in women’s grappling. The reigning champion will be a formidable first obstacle, but Crevar doesn’t see that as cause for hesitation.
“[Rafaela Guedes] She’s a very tough opponent. She’s the current champion in the division, but I feel like I’m more well-rounded in both bottom and top. So I feel like it’s going to be a good match if it happens.”
Then there’s the possibility of a matchup with Gabi Garcia, one of the most decorated competitors in the history of the sport. Garcia has long been the dominant force in women’s ADCC competition, and a potential meeting between her and Crevar represents a generational contrast that the grappling community has been waiting to witness.
“Gabi, she could be considered like one of the best female athletes in the history of Jiu-Jitsu. She’s won like so many ADCC World titles and she’s one of the bigger ones in the division. So I think that’s a match that everyone would want to see. And in my opinion, a really exciting match as well,” Crevar said.
Alongside preparing for bigger opponents in a new weight class, Crevar has been methodically building out a part of her game that wasn’t always her primary weapon. Since settling at Kingsway, she’s devoted serious time to her wrestling, pushing beyond the guard-pulling style that has defined her approach in competition.
“I’ve been working a lot on my wrestling since I’ve moved here to Kingsway, but really a lot in the last year or so. And I feel like I’ve improved a lot. Most of my training sessions, I’m trying to wrestle, not just pull guard, like I’m used to doing. In competition, of course, I’m still more comfortable with guard pulling and just getting straight to the match. But in training, I’ve really been working on my wrestling and I feel like I’ve improved so much.”
