William Tackett wins a vacant UFC BJJ title, joining brother Andrew as a champion

William Tackett submitted Jay Rodriguez with a first-round rear-naked choke to win the vacant UFC BJJ middleweight title in the main event of UFC BJJ 13 on October 29 at Meta APEX in Las Vegas, according to the official event results. In the co-main event, Jalen Fonacier won a three-round unanimous decision over Kleber Barboza in a no-gi bout to take the vacant UFC BJJ bantamweight title, the same results page shows.

Both belts were open heading into the card. The bantamweight title had sat vacant since Mikey Musumeci, the division's first champion, gave it up, and Rodriguez challenged Tackett for the unclaimed middleweight strap in the scheduled main event, Boxing News reported in its preview of the card.

Tackett's win puts him alongside his younger brother Andrew, UFC BJJ's reigning welterweight champion, making the Tacketts the first siblings to hold UFC BJJ titles at the same time, according to UFC.com. Andrew won the inaugural welterweight title in June 2025 and has defended it since, most recently submitting Jonnatas Gracie in the first round at UFC BJJ 10 in August 2026, per his Wikipedia fight record.

Elsewhere on the nine-bout card, Liam Crelinsten submitted Seilkhan Bolatbek by heel hook in the second round to move to 2-0 in UFC BJJ competition, and Joao Nicolite earned his first win in the promotion with a decision over Martin Gonzalez, the official results show.