Ffion Davies, the reigning ADCC women’s champion, has announced that she will not be defending her title at the upcoming ADCC World Championships. Instead, she has decided to compete in a superfight at the new Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) event.
In a detailed video posted online, Davies explained the key reasons behind her surprising decision to skip ADCC, an event she calls “near and dear” to her heart as the current champion.
One major factor is the lack of adequate weight class divisions for women at ADCC. While they recently expanded from two to three divisions, Davies feels this is still far from enough to properly accommodate the female athletes. She expressed frustration that ADCC did not consult with the women competitors about restructuring the weight classes.
Another driving force is the relatively low prize money offered to women at ADCC – just $5,000 for first place, compared to $10,000 for the male winner. Davies argued that as the defending champion, she can make similar money just doing a seminar, so why risk injury against the top female fields for such a small payout?
By taking a high-profile superfight at CJI instead, Davies believes she can make significantly more money while also putting pressure on ADCC and other major promotions to increase compensation for athletes across the board. Her goal is to push for better pay standards in the sport she loves.
Davies was clear that her decision is not out of animosity towards ADCC, but rather motivated by driving positive changes to support athletes and grow women’s jiu-jitsu. She hopes that top stars withdrawing can create urgency for promotions to prioritize fighters’ payouts.
While leaving ADCC’s prestige was difficult, Davies feels she is in a position of influence to force reforms. She intends to be “annoying as f***” in pushing for a dedicated women’s division at future CJI events with equal treatment.
The move allows Davies to pursue her ultimate dream of opening her own jiu-jitsu academy as well. She expressed a desire to establish a top facility and community, likely in her home country of Wales.
Despite some fan frustration over her ADCC withdrawal, Davies urged understanding, stating “this is important, and this is necessary, and this is helping a lot of athletes.” She portrayed CJI as an opportunity for fans to attend two major events simultaneously in Las Vegas.
With her crossroads decision made, the jiu-jitsu world will now wait to see what lucrative superfight matchup CJI can arrange for the departing ADCC queen. But regardless of the opponent, Davies made clear her pioneering move aims to uplift all female competitors in her wake.
