Adam Wardziński

Adam Wardziński is a Polish grappler and black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Alan “Finfou” do Nascimento who represented the Checkmat team throughout his career. Widely regarded as one of the top heavyweight (94,30 kg / 208.0 lbs) competitors of his generation, Wardziński is also one of the first big-name grapplers to emerge from Poland in the history of the sport and the first Polish grappler to win a world title with the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF).

Adam Wardziński Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Adam Wardziński

Nickname: Adam is often referenced as “Megatron”. This started as a result of his goofy mannerisms and “geeky” personality, particularly one episode that occurred while traveling with his team for a competition when Wardziński spent most of the trip pretending to shoot his friends with a toy Megatron (from the Transformers franchise), while on the bus.

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Rolls Gracie > Romero Cavalcanti > Ricardo Vieira > Alan Finfou > Adam Wardziński

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championships (2024)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2023)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2023)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open (2022 /2024)
• 1st Place AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro (2021)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, MSK (2021)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, AD (2019)
• 1st Place ADCC EU Trials (2018)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2019 / 2021)
• 2nd Place IBJJF European Open (2020)
• 2nd Place AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro (2017 / 2019 / 2021+)
• 2nd Place AJP Grand Slam, LDN (2017)
• 2nd Place AJP Grand Slam, AD (2017)
• 2nd Place AJP Grand Slam, TYO (2017)
• 3rd Place ADCC European Trials (2024)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2024)
• 3rd Place IBJJF European Open (2018)
• 3rd Place IBJJF European Open NOGI (2017)
• 3rd Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2021**)
• 3rd Place AJP Grand Slam, RJ (2017)

Main Achievements (Coloured Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF European Open (2015 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open NoGi (2015 brown)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, LDN (2016** brown)
• 1st Place Polish Nationals (2013/2012 purple)
• 1st Place Polish Nationals NoGi (2016 / 2015 brown, 2012 blue)
• 1st Place IBJJF London Open (2014 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF London Open NoGi (2014 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF Rome Open (2014 / 2013 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF Copenhagen Open (2014 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF Paris Open (2014 purple)
• 1st Place Poznań Open (2014 / 2013 purple, 2012 blue)
• 2nd Place IBJJF European Open NoGi (2013 purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF European Open (2013 purple)

* Absolute
** Weight and absolute
+ The AJP federation ran two Abu Dhabi World Pro events in 2021, one in April and another in November, the “+” sign represents the 2nd event, in November.

Favorite Position/Technique: Butterfly Guard

Weight Division: Pesado (94,30 kg / 208.0 lbs)

Team/Association: Checkmat

Adam Wardziński Jiu-Jitsu

Adam Wardziński was born on April 22, 1991, in Western Poland, where he grew up.

Wardziński’s first contact with martial arts occurred at the age of 14, through aikido – an activity chosen by Adam’s parents. Although he trained for an extensive period, as he grew older he lost interest in aikido due to its lack of hand-to-hand combat effectiveness and competition between practitioners.

Long before Adam started training jiu-jitsu he was already following the sport through YouTube, having been fascinated by every form of mainstream grappling from his mid-teens. Aside from the technical component of jiu-jitsu, Wardziński also aspired to compete and when the opportunity to train arose Adam grabbed it with both hands.

Wardziński started training jiu-jitsu as an 18-year-old with Karol Matuszczak, a grappling pioneer in Poland and a black belt under Roy Harris and Joe Moreira. Matuszczak of Combat Zone Poznan was Adam’s coach from white to brown belt.

As a blue belt, Adam started coaching a small group of students in Poznań – Western Poland. That group continued to grow with the passing of time, leading Wardziński to join forces with a good friend and savvy instructor – Andrzej Stolzmann.

As a brown belt, Adam got to known Alan do Nascimento, commonly known as Finfou. A world-renowned black belt, Finfou taught jiu-jitsu in Sweden – which was not too far from Poland. For that reason, Wardziński contacted and invited the Brazilian native to come to Poland for a seminar. After the workshop Adam was very impressed by Alan’s coaching skills and requested that he become affiliated with his association, training under Finfou’s guidance from then on.

In October 2016 Alan Finfou promoted Adam Wardziński to black belt, in a ceremony also attended by World open weight champion Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida.

Adam Wardziński vs Norbert Pobikrowski

Adam Wardziński vs Radoslaw Turek

Adam Wardziński vs Viking Wong