IBJJF Pans breakdown - Adam Wardzinski: An ode to Old School

Breaking down Adam Wardzinski’s championship run at the 2023 IBJJF Pan Championships.

The classics never go out of style.

Whether it be the vintage rock t-shirts, Metallica blasting in his reels, or the exquisite butterfly system he has perfected, Adam Wardzinski is the epitome of old school. Perhaps that is why at an age where many of the game’s best grapplers ascend to the Master’s division, Wardzinski has experienced his greatest success.

The greatest Polish grappler to ever grace the mats, Wardzinski made his name as a color belt dominating the European circuit. Picking up championships at the European Open in gi and no-gi, Wardzinski was widely considered Europe’s best grappler, yet would come up short against the very best.

This however, did not stop Wardzinski from amassing a legion of fans that rivals the size of the sport’s most iconic grapplers. His name became synonymous with the butterfly guard, joining the legendary company of Leo Santos and the inimitable Marcelo Garcia.

It was only a short time ago that butterfly guard was considered to be somewhat dated, especially in the gi, mostly due to the modern passing metagame favoring standing passing. Yet, Wardzinski has consistently used it to baffle black belt after black belt.

Wardzinki’s use of old school jiu jitsu does not just stop with the butterfly. Wardzinski employs shin to shin, single leg X, and sometimes a combination of both if an opponent was too focused on stopping his butterfly.

While Wardzinski is primarily known for his guardplay, partially due to the legendary BJJ Scout guard study, his passing has been the catalyst for his most iconic victories. In the semi-finals of the 2019 edition of the Pan American Championships, Wardzinski faced off against Leandro Lo.

At this point in time Lo was the seven time World Champion with a mountain of other accolades whereas Wardzinski had come up just short time and time again with placed finishes at the AJP Grand Slam, AGP World Pro, and the IBJJF European Championships. An afterthought going into the match, Wardzinski managed to sweep one of the best passers of his generations, knee slice into mount, and take his back culminating in an epic upset.

With this victory, Wardzinski had announced himself as a serious contender at every major, yet despite making incremental progress, he would continue to fall agonizingly short. While Felipe Pena and Xande Ribeiro prevented Wardzinski from seeing great success in his early career, Kaynan Duarte was now the man preventing “Megatron” from ascending into immortality. Time after time, Duarte not only defeated the Polish sensation but often submitted him on the sport’s biggest stages, whether it be by armbar at the IBJJF World Championships or by a vicious kneebar at the AGP World Pro Finals in under two minutes.

With the pandemic in full effect at the tail end of what should have been Adam Wardzinski’s prime, many assumed that Wardzinski’s legacy was sealed, a bridesmaid but never a bride, a highly entertaining and instructive grappler that stood out but one who was never able to obtain that signature title.

Yet coming out of the pandemic, something changed. Wardzinski claimed victory at the 2021 Abu Dhabi World Pro, before finally capturing his elusive IBJJF European Open Title over Dominique Bell. However this tear did not continue stateside as he was quickly eliminated at the 2022 Pan American championship both in his division and absolute.

The Lo victory remained Wardzinski’s greatest moment, bittersweet in the fact that he was quickly dispatched in the finals of that tournament. The 2023 Pan American Championships looked to follow the same course as most of Wardzinski’s major runs over the past few years.

He started with an impressive run, submitting both Roberto Jimenez and Felipe Pimental before defeating Dimitrius Souza to move on to the finals.

Awaiting Wardzinski was the four time Pan American Champion in Felipe Andrew, who had dominantly defeated Wardzinski at the European Open this year.

The match started and it looked like the status quo would remain the same as Wardzinski quickly went down nine points and was mounted, defeat was inevitable.

Many a grappler would have given up in this scenario, yet Wardzinski persevered and went back to the move that had served him so well, the butterfly. Yet Andrew was aware of the threat and extended his base, forcing Wardzinski to switch to his secondary sweep, the John Wayne.

Ending in a knee cut position, Wardzinski still needed seven points in the final minute to get to a referee’s decision.

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