September Month in Review | Progress Jiu Jitsu

It's been a busy time for us at Progress, with our athletes competing across ADCC Worlds, the No-Gi Pan-Ams and Polaris 39. We've had some fantastic results to celebrate, welcomed four new athletes to the roster following TPO:128, and released our latest ADCC collections. With more product releases on the way and the No-Gi European Championships coming up, there's plenty happening at Progress. Here's a look back at the past month.

ADCC Worlds

The ADCC World Championships brought together the world's best submission grapplers in Kraków, Poland, on September 12-13. As always, the event delivered plenty of high-level action, with several new champions crowned across the divisions. For Progress, PJ Barch took silver in the -77kg division, while Big Mark Macqueen secured bronze in the +99kg division. Mark's result was particularly significant, becoming the first British male athlete to medal at ADCC Worlds.

IBJJF Pan No-Gi Championships

The No-Gi Pan-Ams took place from October 2–4, bringing together competitors from across the world for one of the biggest events on the IBJJF calendar. Progress had a strong showing, with Tarik Hopstock taking silver in his black-belt division. Tarik had been chasing the No-Gi Grand Slam after winning gold at the European Championships, World Championships and Brasileiros earlier in the season. Although he fell just short of completing the set, silver at Pans is another excellent result. Shai Grena also had a great tournament, winning gold in his brown belt division before taking bronze in the open class. Our recently signed blue belt athletes also made their mark. Jonah Oldenhaven won gold in the heavyweight division and bronze in the open class, while Henry Mbireaye secured silver in the super-heavyweight division.

Polaris 39

Polaris returned to Doncaster on October 3, featuring some of the leading names in professional grappling. We had 3 of the team on the card. Eoghan O’Flanagan faced Tommy Langaker in the co-main event, ultimately just falling short losing by decision. Ju Livsey secured a submission victory over Shy Lilly with an arm triangle and Tommy Yip also delivered a strong performance, defeating Jamie Faulding with a reverse (punch) triangle.

All Things Progress Jiu Jitsu

Progress x ADCC Collections - This past month, we released two new collections: The Cosmo and a signature kit with Los Banditos. Both collections were worn by our athletes at the ADCC World Championships, bringing the latest Progress designs onto one of the biggest stages in grappling. We're proud to see the team representing Progress at the highest level, and we're excited to have these collections available for the wider community.

TPO:128 Passes 100,000 Views - Our TPO:128 YouTube video has now passed 100,000 views, just two weeks after release. For those unfamiliar with the project, TPO:128 was our 128-man open-weight blue belt tournament, created to identify and sign some of the most promising up-and-coming blue belts in Europe. Following the event, we signed four athletes to the Progress roster: Rayan Benjelloun, who finished first, Jonah Oldenhaven, who finished second, and Mohammed Mahwiz and Henry Mbireaye, who shared third place. With Jonah and Henry already delivering strong performances at the Pan No-Gi Championships, the event is beginning to show exactly what we hoped it would. All four athletes are set to compete at the No-Gi European Championships later this month, so keep an eye out for their results.

Coming soon!
We're preparing to introduce the new Academy + Gi range. This is a completely new product for Progress, and we can't wait to share more about it. Also we'll soon be releasing our 2027 ranked rashguards. Some of you may have already caught a sneak peek, with members of the Progress competition team wearing them at the Pan No-Gi Championships. More details will be coming soon…

No-Gi European Championships - The No-Gi European Championships are just around the corner, and we have a HUGE squad competing including all four of our TPO:128 signings. Following the results at Pans, we're looking forward to seeing how the team gets on and what the next stage holds for our newest athletes.

A special shout-out to everyone who represented Progress at ADCC Worlds, Polaris 39 and the No-Gi Pan-Ams. Whether you came home with a medal or not, you represent the team in the best way.

Thanks so much for reading and as always the support! Looking forward to another great month in the BJJ world and at Progress Jiu Jitsu.