What We Learned from the 2026 European Trials

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The 2nd Europen, Middle Eastern and African trials have just finished and 8 more people are headed to ADCC. We got a lot of the usual suspects, but also some new names as well. I have the stats down below, so you can see what was working and what wasn't. I only did stats for the finals matches, but hopefully that gives you some insight into what was happening. Also I couldn't find the Yagit Haney finals match on Flo. I'm hoping either ADCC or Flo works the bugs out of their system, so we don't miss anymore of these matches. Anyway, let's look at the results.

 

Results


-66kgs Yagit Haney def Kostiantyn Zhyvanov via points


-77 kgs Nikolay Vetrov def Taylor Pearman via points


-88kgs Marlon Tajik def Faris Ben-Lamkadem via dec


-99kgs Eoghan O'Flanagan def Muhamed Urusov via dec


+99kgs Haisam Rida def Aiden Woodley via RNC


-55kgs Janette Gloger def Ana Mayordomo via RNC


-65kgs Injana Goodman def Ane Svedsen via points


+65kgs Anabel Lopez def Nia Blackman via dec





How People Won


At these trials 42.9% of the matches ended in submission. Of course these are only the finals matches, but I think that is a great number. The submissions followed the usual pattern with chokes coming in first followed by leg locks and then finally arm locks(which didn't appear). The other matches ended in points and decisions.

 
 

Stats





Overall

This was good event overall, but I feel the EU trials always have some problems as far as production is concerned. It can be a pain finding the matches, which really hurts the enjoyment factor for me. Also not as many big names showed up which is disappointing. That said the matches were enjoyable and I was happy to see the the return of people like Eoghan O'Flanagan and Haisam Rida. The level in these trials has been steadily increasing, which is good to see. 

I was a bit disappointed in the rules as I feel Taylor Pearman got the short end of the stick and lost by guard pull penalty. He tried to make his opponent take him down, but they didn't count it, so instead he was hit will a penalty. I don't mind the no guard pulling rule, but if you have it takedown should count for points. The way it is now people are just trying to bait their opponents into taking them down and the finals turn into a contest of who can game the rules the best. Eoghan almost lost this way as well. I'd like to see the rules updated, so the better grappler is winning consistently instead of the better strategist. 

There are only a few trials left and I'm excited to see who else will be going to ADCC this year. I hope more people start doing trials and this time has more big names than last time. ADCC has been a bit quiet this cycle, so I'm hoping the hype starts picking up in 2026. Keep an eye on this blog for the next trials.


Year To Date

Below you can find the submissions for 2026 so far and I'll be updating it over the year, so stay tuned.


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