Tackett Defends UFC BJJ Welterweight Belt vs Gracie at Meta APEX

UFC BJJ heads back to the Meta APEX in Las Vegas on Thursday, August 20 for its tenth card, and the headliner is a straightforward pitch: welterweight champion Andrew Tackett puts his belt on the line against Jonnatas Gracie, a newer contender carrying the most famous surname in the sport. It's the kind of matchup The Bowl was built for — a proven champion against a name that guarantees eyeballs.

The card doesn't stop at one title. Three belts are in play across the night, including a women's flyweight Grand Prix that will crown an inaugural champion in the division. That's a full slate of stakes for a promotion still writing its early history, and it streams live and free on the UFC BJJ YouTube channel.

The Main Event

Tackett has held the welterweight strap and now faces a challenger the promotion is billing as genuinely dangerous. Gracie steps in as the fresh threat, and the Gracie name in a grappling headliner isn't just marketing — it sets an expectation that Tackett has to answer under the lights.

Submission-only formats reward patience and punish overreaching, so the read here is whether Tackett can control the exchanges and force Gracie into bad positions, or whether the challenger's aggression flips the script. Champions in this ruleset tend to win by managing risk. Contenders win by taking it.

Lima vs Ste-Marie in the Co-Main

The co-main slots Brazilian standout Rebeca Lima, the current women's featherweight champion, against Canadian newcomer Brianna Ste-Marie. Lima brings the title-holder pedigree; Ste-Marie arrives as a UFC BJJ debutant with a serious reputation on the mats.

It's a classic proven-champion-versus-decorated-arrival setup, and those matches tend to tell you a lot about a division's depth. If Ste-Marie makes an immediate statement, the featherweight picture gets a lot more crowded in a hurry.

A New Champion Gets Made

The women's flyweight Grand Prix is the structural centerpiece here. Four of UFC BJJ's most talented flyweights are in the bracket, and the winner walks out as the first-ever champion at 125.

Among them is Cassia Moura, the reigning women's bantamweight champion moving into the tournament field. A titleholder stepping down to chase a second belt raises the ceiling on the whole bracket — a Moura run would make her one of the promotion's marquee names overnight.

What It Means

Grand Prix formats are unforgiving. Win multiple times in a night and you don't just get a belt, you get a claim to being the best in a division from day one. For everyone else in that bracket, a single bad grip or a rushed pass ends the campaign.

For Tackett, a successful defense against a Gracie is the kind of win that builds a legacy résumé early. For Gracie, taking the belt would be the fastest way to turn a famous name into a champion's one.

The whole thing lands Thursday night. Three titles, one debut worth watching, and a division that ends the evening with a champion it didn't have when the doors opened.