A Look Back At History: 5 Things To Know About The 2005 ADCC World Championship

The 2005 ADCC World Championship ran May 28–29 at California State University, Long Beach — a milestone edition of the event that still gets referenced for a handful of firsts. Here's what's worth remembering, 20 years on.

1. The first ADCC held in the United States

The 2005 edition marked the first time the ADCC World Championship was held on U.S. soil, moving the event outside Brazil and mainland Europe for the first time in its history and setting the template for the North American editions that followed.

2. Women's divisions made their ADCC debut

Two women's weight classes and a women's absolute division were added to the card for the first time, permanently expanding the tournament format used at every ADCC World Championship since.

3. The Gracie family took home three golds

Roger Gracie won both the 99kg division and the Absolute, while Kyra Gracie captured the 60kg title — a three-gold weekend that underlined the family's continued dominance a decade into the sport's modern era. See our triangle choke guide for the kind of closed-guard game the Gracies were known for at the time.

4. Marcelo Garcia defended his 77kg title

Marcelo Garcia won the 77kg division for the second consecutive championship, backing up his earlier title and further cementing his reputation as one of the most technical competitors of his generation.

5. Record attendance for the era

Roughly 6,000 fans attended across the weekend — the largest crowd the event had drawn at that point, and an early sign of how much the sport's spectator audience would grow over the following two decades.

Related Reading

• Triangle choke guide — the closed-guard submission that defined the era
• Looking back at ADCC 2015 — how the tournament evolved a decade later
• BJJ belt system roadmap — the promotion path behind champions like Roger Gracie and Marcelo Garcia