(Highlights from the 2007 ADCC tourney. For part 2, click here.)

The ultra-prestigious invitation-only Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Fighting World Championships — which takes place every two years — kicks off September 26th in Barcelona, with a host of familiar names in the brackets. Read on to see who will be battling for the biggest bragging rights in the grappling world during the upcoming 2009 edition. Props to Fightlinker and Japan MMA for the tips…

Female -60kg:
Kyra Gracie, Brazil (2007 women’s -59kg winner)
Sayaka Shioda, Japan (2007 women’s -55kg winner)
Megumi Fujii, Japan
Michelle Tavares, Brazil
Laurence Cousin, France
Ina Steffensen, Denmark
Hillary Williams, USA
Luanna Alzuguir, Brazil

Female 60kg+:
Hannette Staack, USA (2007 women’s Absolute and -67kg winner)
Penny Thomas, USA (2007 women’s 67kg+ winner)
Hitomi Hiraiwa, Japan
Rosângela Conceição, Brazil
Ida Hansson, Sweden
Shanti Abelha, Denmark
Lana Stephanac, USA
Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos, Brazil


Male -65.9kg:
Rani Yahya, Brazil (2007 men’s -65kg winner)
Jeff Curran, USA
Justin Rader, USA
Leo Vieira, Brazil
Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura, Japan
Jeff Glover, USA
Baret Yoshida, USA
Rubens Charles Maciel, Brazil
Jayson Patino, USA
David Marinakis, Australia
Ryan Hall, USA
Timo-Juhani Hirvikangas, Finland
Nicolas Renier, France
Rafael Mendes, Brazil
Kohei Yasumi, Japan

Male -76.9kg:
Marcelo Garcia, Brazil (2007 men’s -76kg winner; Garcia also won the -76kg class in 2003 and 2005, and placed 2nd in the 2007 Absolute bracket.)
Ben Askren, USA
Bill Cooper, USA
Milton Vieira, Brazil
Yoshiyuki Yoshida, Japan
Georges St. Pierre, Canada
Pablo Popovich, USA
Kron Gracie, USA
Enrico Cocco, USA
Rodney Ellis, Australia
Don Ortega, USA
Toni Linden, Finland
Marcelo Azevedo, Brazil
Murilo Santana, Brazil
Keita Nakamura, Japan

Male -87.9kg:
Demian Maia, Brazil (2007 men’s -87kg winner; will he get a chance to avenge his loss to Nate Marquardt?)
Gunnar Nelson, Iceland
Tarsis Humphreys, Brazil
Rousimar Palhares, Brazil
Braulio Estima, UK
Nate Marquadt, USA
Mike van Arsdale, USA
Daniel Tabera, Spain
Rafael Lovato Jr.
Chris Weidman, USA
Igor Praporshchikov, Australia
Jason Selva, USA
Trond Saksenvik, Norway
Andre Galvao, Brazil
Kazuhiro Nakamura, Japan
Kassim Annan, France

Male -98.9kg:
Alexandre "Xande" Ribeiro, USA (2007 men’s -98kg winner)
Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz, Brazil
Renato Sobral, Brazil
Vesa Vuori, Finland
Vinicius Magalhães, Brazil
Dean Lister, USA
Roberto Abreu, USA
Ricardo Arona, Brazil
Gerardi Rinaldi, USA
Anthony Perosh, Australia
Rafael Davies, USA
Andreas Olsen, Norway
Radek Turek, Poland
Glover Teixeira, Brazil
Yukiya Naito, Japan

Male 99kg+:
Fabricio Werdum, Brazil (2007 men’s 99kg+ winner)
Jeff Monson, USA
Tom Erikson, USA
Jon Olav Einemo, Norway
Rogent Lloret, Spain
Saulo Ribeiro, USA
Dennis Roberts, Australia
Asa Fuller, USA
Janne-Pekka Pietiläinen, Finland
Tomasz Janiszewski, Poland
Antoine Jaoude, Brazil
Kouji Kanechika, Japan
Tom DeBlass, USA

Note: The tournament will also feature Absolute (open-weight) divisions in the men’s and women’s categories, as well as a "superfight" between Roger Gracie (2005 Absolute winner) and Robert Drysdale (2007 Absolute winner).