Felipe Pena submitted Roosevelt Sousa with a rear naked choke from back control to win the 2026 ADCC Absolute championship in Kraków, Poland, on Sept. 13 — becoming the first athlete in event history to capture Absolute gold twice.
FloGrappling’s Allen Catour reported that Pena weathered several aggressive leg attacks from Sousa early in the final before taking the back and finishing. Flo noted the sequence echoed Pena’s back-taking counter that led to a points win over Gordon Ryan in the 2017 Absolute final.
The win puts Pena alone in ADCC history as the first competitor with two Absolute titles.
Pena’s path through Absolute
Pena’s Absolute run was not straightforward. Flo says he was pushed into overtime in multiple matches and often defending dangerous positions early before finding a way back.
He opened with an overtime smother over Francis Pignoti Panamley Pana, then took a 3-0 points decision against Eoghan O’Flanagan in the quarterfinals. In the semis he needed overtime again before finishing Abdulaev Ruslan with a smother choke.
By the final he already had two Absolute submissions. Flo also credits him with two more submission wins in the +99kg bracket earlier in the weekend. Across Absolute he finished four matches with three submissions and stood atop the podium again.
Sousa’s run to a first Absolute final
Sousa reached his first Absolute final with a strong Day 2 path of his own: a rear naked choke on Tommy Langaker, a calf slicer on Felipe Costa in the quarterfinals, and a smother on Marlon Tajik in the semis. His leg attacks created problems for Pena early in the gold-medal bout before Pena found the opening, moved to the back, and locked the choke.
Source: FloGrappling — Felipe Pena Wins 2026 ADCC Absolute Title, Makes History (Allen Catour, Sept. 13, 2026).
Leave a Reply