2025 has been a banner year for Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), as the sport rapidly grows and more opportunities are available for athletes in the professional grappling scene. We’re going over some of the best performances and top milestones of the year, as we unveil the winners of the 2025 BJJ Awards here at MMA Mania.
Following up on our Submission, Event, Breakthrough Grappler, Promotion, and Female Grappler of the Year awards, our final category tackles the best male grapplers of 2025.
This award isn’t necessarily given to the highest ranked or most skilled grappler, but who we believe had the best year in 2025. There were several elite grapplers that put on great performances throughout the year, but here are the top grapplers that stood out the most.
Honorable Mentions: Diego Pato, Adam Wardzinski
Diego “Pato” Oliveira and Adam Wardzinski both had an incredible year, as the two BJJ stars took gold at all four major gi events (IBJJF Worlds, Pans, Brasileiros and Euros) in 2025 to win IBJJF Grand Slam honors.
Pato won his 6th IBJJF world title across gi and no gi, and also had one WNO title defense over Keith Krikorian last year. Wardzinski won back to back world titles in 2024 and 2025, before retiring from the IBJJF circuit in the best way possible. They have good cases to be ranked higher, as they’re world champs and legitimately among the top pound-for-pound best today. They arguably had better years though and they each sustained upset losses in the few high paying (for BJJ) professional tournaments they joined.
Pato and Wardzinski are so good and both operate on such high expectations that those rare losses actually elevated the careers of two breakhrough athletes.
3. Declan Moody
Declan Moody had a huge year, where he rose from a promising BJJ prospect to legitimately one of the best heavyweights on the planet. Moody’s game seems to have significantly improved in 2025, and the results speak for themselves. With his great passing, movement and quickness for his size, the 29-year-old B-Team product was dominant in several key tournaments and professional events.
In 2025, Moody beat five men to win CJI 2 Trials, submitted Fellipe Andrew at WNO 28, then dominated Ryan Aitken and Ethan Crelinsten at CJI 2. A week later, and he beat Marcin Maciulewicz and four others to win another ADCC Trials gold medal.
Moody then capped off the year by winning the WNO Open Weight Grand Prix title. He has a legitimate case to be ranked higher, but either way, Moody clearly had one of the best showings in 2025 due to his vastly improved game.
2. Andrew Tackett
2025 was absolutely massive for Andrew Tackett’s career.
He started the year with a heel hook win at WNO 27, before eventually joining UFC BJJ and being part of their “Road to the Title” reality show. Tackett beat Aaron Wilson, Jason Nolf and Andy Varela to win the promotion’s inaugural welterweight belt, and followed up with two title defenses over Renato Canuto and Elijah Dorsey to end the year.
All six of those pro wins were by submission, with Tackett not only living up to his reputation for must watch entertainment, but also growing to become the face of UFC BJJ, along with Mikey Musumeci.
Since becoming a fan-favorite after his 2024 loss to Kade Ruotolo at CJI 1, Tackett took full advantage of the UFC marketing machine and became one of the biggest stars in the entire sport in 2025. Others on this list may technically have more top ranked wins, but Tackett easily had one of the biggest career jumps in 2025.
1. Grappler of the Year: Dorian Olivarez
In 2025, Dorian Olivarez made a massive leap from teen prodigy to elite BJJ talent.
Olivarez was one of the standouts at the biggest BJJ event of the year. While it went down on his official record as draws due to CJI 2’s team grappling rules, Olivarez clearly dominated three BJJ champions in Ethan Crelinsten, Taylor Pearman and Felipe Pena.
Pearman is an ADCC Trials champ at 88 kg (194 lbs) and came in at 99 kg (218 lbs) for CJI 2, while Pena is the reigning ADCC heavyweight champion (over 99 kg). Olivarez was around 70-80 lbs lighter, further highlighting just how insane those performances were.
In his own 66 kg division, Olivarez also won gold at arguably the most stacked ADCC Trials bracket of the year, which had 130 competitors. He beat seven men in one day, which included submission wins over Julian Espinosa and Gavin Corbe.
In 2025, Olivarez dominated much larger, elite champions at the star-studded CJI 2 event, and he also became a rare two-time ADCC Trials champ — all before even turning 20-years-old.
Despite his young age, Olivarez technically doesn’t qualify for our Breakthrough Grappler of the Year award due to his previous ADCC Trials win (like Declan Moody above). He still did more than enough to win the biggest recognition on our 2025 BJJ Awards though.
With his incredible 2025, Dorian Olivarez is our Male Grappler of the Year.
MMA Mania’s 2025 BJJ Awards:
- Best Submissions
- Best Events
- Best Breakthrough Grapplers
- Best Promotions
- Best Female Grapplers
- Best Male Grapplers
