UAE Jiu-Jitsu Delivers a Record Asian Games Haul

The UAE's jiu-jitsu team turned the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya into one of the country's best chapters on the mat. On the second day running the fighters kept winning, and the wider UAE squad climbed to a record seven gold medals, the most the country has ever won at a single Asian Games. If you train in a UAE gym, that is worth noticing: a sport built on grips, scrambles and hard conditioning has become part of everyday fitness culture here, and the athletes winning on an Asian stage build many of the same qualities you can work on in any gym.

In this article

1. A record medal haul for UAE jiu-jitsu
2. Who won on the mat
3. Why jiu-jitsu runs deep in UAE fitness
4. What jiu-jitsu asks of your body
5. Bring grappling-style conditioning to your training

A record medal haul for UAE jiu-jitsu

According to The National, the UAE jiu-jitsu contingent added two golds and a bronze on Friday, extending a run that has made the sport one of the country's surest sources of medals. The result pushed the national team past its previous best, lifting the UAE to seven golds in Aichi-Nagoya against the five it managed at the last edition in Hangzhou. The overall UAE tally reached 12 medals, made up of seven gold, four silver and one bronze.

Gulf News reported that in jiu-jitsu alone the UAE now holds five gold, two silver and one bronze at these Games, a haul that keeps the country first in Asia in the sport. The federation was part of a UAE delegation of 165 athletes, and jiu-jitsu again carried much of the load.

Who won on the mat

Three Emirati fighters stood on the podium on the day the record fell:

• Mahdi Al Awlaqi took gold in the men's 77kg category, beating Mahmoud Jabr of Jordan in the final.
• Asma Al Hosani won gold in the women's 52kg category, holding on to the title she first claimed at Hangzhou 2023, where she became the first Emirati woman to win an Asian Games jiu-jitsu gold.
• Amaar Al Hosani earned bronze in the 94kg category to round off the day.

Asma Al Hosani's second straight continental title stood out. Defending a gold is harder than winning the first one, because every opponent has studied your game, and doing it in front of a watching nation took the kind of composure that only comes from long, consistent preparation.

Why jiu-jitsu runs deep in UAE fitness

None of this happened by accident. Abu Dhabi has spent years building itself into a home for the sport. The capital hosts the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, organised by the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation and drawing competitors from dozens of countries, and the country runs a Jiu-Jitsu School Project that teaches the sport to children across UAE schools. A generation has grown up rolling on the mats, which is how a small nation ends up ranked first in Asia.

For the rest of us, that same base means jiu-jitsu is easy to find. Gyms, academies and community clubs across the Emirates run beginner classes, and the sport welcomes people who have never thrown a punch or taken a fall, because it rewards leverage and technique rather than size or aggression.

What jiu-jitsu asks of your body

You do not need to compete to train like a grappler. Jiu-jitsu rewards a specific mix of physical qualities, and every one of them can be built with ordinary gym tools. If you want to borrow from the sport, these are the pieces worth working on:

• Grip and forearm strength. Holding a sleeve or a collar for minutes at a time is brutal on the hands, and dead hangs, towel rows and farmer carries build the same endurance.
• Core and hip control. Almost every movement starts from the hips and a braced trunk, so planks, hollow holds, leg raises and hip bridges carry straight over.
• Mobility. The hips, shoulders and neck all need range to stay comfortable in awkward positions, and a few minutes of daily mobility work goes a long way.
• Short, sharp conditioning. A match is a series of explosive scrambles rather than a steady jog, so interval work on a bike, a rower or in a circuit matches the demand better than long slow cardio.

Train those four and you will feel fitter even if you never set foot on a mat. They are the same foundations that make almost any sport, and everyday life, easier to handle.

Bring grappling-style conditioning to your training

Curious enough to put it to the test? Try GymNation with a free day pass and see how your grip, core and conditioning hold up, and if you want a plan built around you, fill in the enquiry form and the GymNation team will take it from there.

Sources:
thenationalnews.com
gulfnews.com
en.wikipedia.org

The opinions shared in the GymNation blog articles are solely those of the respective authors and may not represent the perspectives of GymNation or any member of the GymNation team.