MMA & BJJ Weekly: Sterling, Spann, Brasileiros
Aljamain Sterling looked every bit the next title threat at 145 pounds, Marcus Buchecha got slept inside two rounds, and the Brazilian black belt circuit is buzzing as the IBJJF Brasileiros heats up in Barueri. The week of April 21 to 27, 2026, gave grappling fans a stack of moments worth replaying. Here is the full rundown for the Taipei BJJ community, lead with what mattered most on Saturday night at the Apex.
Sterling Smothers Zalal, Demands Volkanovski Next
The featherweight headliner at UFC Vegas 116 was a one-sided clinic. Aljamain Sterling beat Youssef Zalal by unanimous decision at the Meta Apex on Saturday, with all three judges scoring it 49-45. The former bantamweight champion is now 3-1 since moving up, and after five rounds of mat control, ground-and-pound, and the kind of back-take chains that built his bantamweight title run, he made his case loud and clear in the post-fight interview.
Sterling worked Zalal to the floor in rounds one and two, ate a strong third round when the Moroccan rallied with kicks and a brief takedown of his own, then slammed the door in round four with a back-mount mauling that drained Zalal’s tank for the final five minutes. Sterling told reporters at the post-fight presser that he would have walked away from the sport if Zalal had finished him. Instead, he is asking the UFC for a shot at champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Whether Volkanovski is the next opponent or whether Movsar Evloev jumps the line, Sterling’s grappling performance was the loudest argument for a title shot anyone has made at 145 pounds in months. For Taipei BJJ readers studying control positions, the Sterling-Zalal fight is a clinic in chest-to-chest pressure and seatbelt-grip back rides. Go watch the highlights when you have time.
Ryan Spann Sleeps Marcus Buchecha With One Right Hand
If you had told a grappling room ten years ago that a 13-time IBJJF world champion and three-time ADCC absolute gold medalist would get folded by a single overhand right at heavyweight, you would have been laughed out the door. That is exactly what happened on the Vegas 116 main card. Ryan Spann, dropping heavyweight after a long light-heavyweight run, ate a few of Buchecha’s best clinch entries in round one, then stuffed a takedown in round two and landed a left hook into a straight right that put Buchecha out cold at the 2:10 mark.
Buchecha was 6-0 in the UFC heading into the bout and had been talked about as a sneaky title threat once Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones sorted themselves out. That conversation is on hold. Spann earned the $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus and gave Daniel Cormier a ringside reaction that has already gone viral on MMA Twitter.
The lesson here is the one BJJ players have always known and sometimes refused to internalize: a black belt with a Hall of Fame jiu-jitsu resume is still on the wrong end of a heavyweight punching contest if he cannot solve the takedown problem. Spann did not need to be a sharper grappler than Buchecha. He just needed to keep the fight standing for two rounds. That cost the Brazilian his unbeaten UFC record.
Jackson McVey Locks the D’Arce, Picks Up His First UFC Win
The cleanest BJJ-flavored finish of the card came on the prelims. Middleweight Jackson McVey, 0-2 in the promotion and fighting for his roster spot, dropped Sedriques Dumas with an uppercut to the ear, swarmed for the TKO finish, and when Dumas covered up well enough to survive the ground-and-pound, McVey switched lanes and attacked the front headlock. The D’Arce came clean at 2:14 of round one. First UFC win in the books.
Two things to take away from this one. First, this is the textbook reason every grappler should drill the front-headlock series. McVey could not break Dumas open with strikes, but the position was right there because Dumas turtled to defend. Second, McVey looked relaxed and patient. The choke was nine seconds of slow squeeze, not a frantic grab. That is what experience under pressure looks like. Expect McVey to get a stiffer test next time out.
ADCC West Coast Trials: Nick Hartman’s Story Stands Out
The 2026 ADCC West Coast Trials wrapped on April 19 at the Fairplex in Pomona, California. We covered the full results in our ADCC West Coast Trials roundup last week, but one storyline keeps circulating. Nick Hartman, a Robert Drysdale black belt competing at +99kg, submitted four of his five opponents and used his post-victory mic time to ask the BJJ community for help. His daughter Jackie has RTD type 2, a rare medical disorder that has cost her vision and hearing. Hartman directed donations and awareness to her medical fund.
The full list of qualifiers for the 2026 ADCC World Championships in Krakow, Poland: Gianni Grippo (66 kg), Michael Sainz (77 kg), Nathan Haddad (88 kg), Elder Cruz (99 kg), Nick Hartman (+99 kg), Sheliah Lindsey (55 kg), Sarah Galvao (65 kg), and Paige Ivette (+65 kg). Sainz won out of the deepest division of the tournament with 190 grapplers entered. Galvao went 5-0 without conceding a point.
The trials marked the last North American qualifying event before the main show, and the wrestling-heavy meta from East Coast Trials carried right over. If you are tracking the road to ADCC, expect more takedown-first competitors on the qualified list this cycle than ever before. The official trials calendar and brackets are tracked on adcc-official.com.
IBJJF Brasileiros 2026 Underway in Barueri
The 2026 IBJJF Campeonato Brasileiro started April 24 and runs through May 3 in Barueri, just outside São Paulo. The numbers are absurd: nearly 8,000 athletes registered across all belt levels, 10 days of mats running from morning to night, and full streaming on FloGrappling for anyone who wants to watch from a phone in Asia. The kids’ divisions and lower belts have already produced highlight finishes, but the headline acts are still ahead.
Adult black belt brackets begin Saturday May 2 with semis and finals on Sunday May 3. Defending champions to watch include Diego Pato at light featherweight, Tainan Dalpra at middleweight, and the dominant Gabi Pessanha at women’s super heavyweight and absolute. Pessanha has not lost a Brasileiros final in years, and her semifinal style of forward pressure into stack passing is one of the most efficient passing systems on the women’s circuit.
If you train no-gi only and have not paid attention to a gi major in a while, this is the one to circle. The Brasileiros tends to feature more closed-guard play and more tight, technical scrambles than the IBJJF Worlds because the field is mostly Brazilian academies and the regional rivalries push competitors to compete harder than they would in California. Streaming details and the full schedule live on ibjjf.com.
Carlos Ulberg’s ACL Recovery Ahead of Schedule
UFC light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg, who blew his ACL in the opening minute of his UFC 327 title fight against Jiri Prochazka on April 11 and still went on to knock the Czech out cold to win the vacant belt, gave a recovery update this week. He told reporters his rehab is ahead of schedule. He is back in light strength work and expects to clear medical to return to camp earlier than the original twelve-month timeline projected.
Ulberg has not committed to a return date or an opponent. The likely first defense is against the winner of the next top-five matchup the UFC books, with Magomed Ankalaev, Alex Pereira on a hypothetical comeback, and Jamahal Hill all in the mix. For now, the 205-pound division is moving without its champion, but the timeline is shorter than the worst-case scenario.
Coming Up: The Schedule Through Mid-May
The pace does not slow down this week. Here is what we are tracking on the calendar:
- May 2: UFC Fight Night Perth, Australia. Jack Della Maddalena vs Carlos Prates headlining. Welterweight title implications if Della Maddalena holds the belt by then.
- May 2-3: IBJJF Brasileiros 2026 black belt finals in Barueri.
- May 16: UFC Fight Night Vegas. Brendan Allen vs Paulo Costa at middleweight.
- May 30: UFC Fight Night Macau. Song Yadong vs Deiveson Figueiredo at bantamweight.
- Late May into June: The road to UFC 328 Chimaev vs Strickland kicks into full press tour mode.
For more weekly grappling and MMA coverage from Taipei BJJ, check our previous installment from UFC Winnipeg, the Malott vs Burns weekend. The Sterling-Zalal main event highlights, the Spann-Buchecha knockout, and full prelim recaps from UFC Vegas 116 are also up on the official UFC results page.
Train smart this week. Drill the back-take chains, the front-headlock series, and the takedown defense that Buchecha will be wishing he had spent another week on. See you back here next Monday.
Sources
- 1. UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs Zalal — Official Results — Official UFC results and scorecards from UFC Vegas 116 at the Meta Apex.
- 2. MMA Junkie — Sterling Calls Out Volkanovski After Zalal Win — Post-fight coverage of Aljamain Sterling’s unanimous decision win and title call-out.
- 3. Sherdog — Ryan Spann KOs Marcus Buchecha at UFC Vegas 116 — Round-by-round and Performance of the Night bonus details for Spann’s heavyweight knockout.
- 4. MMA Fighting — Jackson McVey D’Arce Choke vs Sedriques Dumas — Prelim recap covering McVey’s first UFC win via first-round D’Arce submission.
- 5. ADCC News — 2026 West Coast Trials Results, Pomona — Full bracket results and qualifier list from the Fairplex West Coast Trials.
- 6. IBJJF — Brasileiros 2026, Barueri — Official IBJJF event page for the Brazilian National Championships in Barueri.
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