Bloody Elbow looks over some of the exciting matchups kicking off this weekend’s IBJJF Pans black belt tournament.
The IBJJF Pans tournament kicks off this weekend, with the lower belts and masters divisions battling it out Friday afternoon in sunny Kissimmee, Florida. As higher profile pros take over tomorrow, Bloody Elbow is here to break down the stacked black belt divisions and round one matchups.
With many high level athletes serving doping bans from the 2022 No Gi Worlds, fresh black belts have a bigger shot at upsetting established names and making deep podium runs. Here are just a handful of the numerous athletes to watch.
The adult black belt division kicks off Saturday at 1PM EST, and you can stream it here.
Female Divisions
ROOSTERWEIGHT
Kicking off with the roosterweight division, Checkmat’s Lavinia Barbosa takes on Atos black belt and former brown belt IBJJF champ Jhenifer Aquino. Barbosa comes off of a silver-medal finish at the IBJJF Tampa Open absolute division last month, while Aquino is still riding high from a dominant title win at the 2022 No Gi Worlds.
Also on the bracket, Canadian black belt and 2018 IBJJF champ Ni Ni Vicky Hoang faces Cobrhina standout Giulia Gregorut. Recently promoted following a successful title run at purple and brown belt (taking IBJJF titles in both), this year’s pans marks Gregorut’s first at black belt.
LIGHT FEATHERWEIGHT
The legendary gi/no gi titan Mayssa Bastos will take on the winner of Adele Fornarino and Sayuri Pereira in round two of the light featherweight division, receiving a round 1 bye. Bastos has collected nearly every major IBJJF title in her black belt career, despite often coming into matches undersized. And fresh off her black belt debut, Elizabeth Liera hopes to bring yet another gold medal home to Atos HQ by first overcoming Infight BJJ’s Kaynara Martins on the other side of the bracket.
LIGHTWEIGHT
Submitted by Elizabeth Clay at the Polaris GP earlier this month, ADCC and IBJJF champ Ffion Davies will try for her first Pans gold medal at lightweight by overcoming the winner of Suellen Lima De Souza vs. Larissa Martins Dos Santos of Dream Art.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Speaking of Clay, she’ll be taking her Polaris momentum to the middleweight division, wher she’ll face multi-time IBJJF champion Raquel Canuto in round one. The Drysdale black belt has multiple no gi world titles, most recently taking gold at the 2022 Houston Fall Open representing Hybrid BJJ.
MEDIUM HEAVYWEIGHT
29-year-old Ana Carolina Vieira hunts for her third pans championship in the medium-heavyweight bracket, bringing her exceptional passing/top control against the winner of Akeela Jovon Al-Hameed vs. Vedha Toscano. Toscano enters the Pans as a longtime gi competitor, known for her solid open guard game that helped her win the 2019 Pans in the brown belt division. Also in the bracket, last year’s heavyweight champ Melissa Cueto has dropped down to challenge these exceptional grapplers for the chance at a new medal for her wall, making it anyone’s game.
HEAVYWEIGHT
The heavyweights start strong with Alliance BJJ’s Leticia Cardozo de Carvalho taking on last year’s heavyweight brown belt champion Tamaris Fernanda Da Silva. Finishing third in last year’s Pans as a medium-heavy brown belt, Carvalho hopes to make a splashy debut in her new division against the deadly Dream Art athlete. Neither woman will have time to rest if they make it through to the the next match, however, with 2022’s heavyweight bronze medalist and 2022 Worlds gold winner Leticia Cardozo de Carvalho on deck. Carvalho is the only Pans podium finisher of last year’s to return to the heavyweight bracket, bringing her incredible back attacks to a new roster of opponents.
SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT
Queen of the super-heavyweight division Gabrieli Pessanha hopes to continue her prodigious run through the sport of BJJ. Going unbeaten for the last two years and 71 matches, the 22-year-old has collected nearly every title in professional Gi BJJ including the 2022 ultra-heavy and open Pans titles. She defends her throne against able competition in the winner of Checkmat’s Mayara Monteiro Custódio—a former Worlds winner at black belt and colored belt levels—who will face IBJJF Rome Open champ Lama Qubbaj. Pessanha will face the runner up in the left side of the bracket, and the winner will advance to the finals.
Male Divisions
ROOSTERWEIGHT
Thalison Soares is gunning for more than silver this year. Losing a back-and-forth points war against Carlos Alberto Oliveira da Silva at last year’s Pans, the roosterweight brings new lessons and a fresh 2022 Worlds title’s worth of confidence into his first match. Zayed Abdulnaser A Alkatheeri faces Gracie Barra’s Italo Augusto Bonfim Frota for the right to face Soares in round two.
LIGHT FEATHERWEIGHT
Brothers Hiryu and Reon Niwa fill spots in the rooster and light-featherweight divisions respectively. Promoted after closing out their brown belt division at the 2022 No Gi Worlds, the AOJ phenoms are looking to make a splash at their black belt world debut.
Ares BJJ black belt Keven Carrasco was promoted in part due to his gold finishes in 2019 and 2020 as a purple and brown belt. Now returning to Pans after three years, he enters the light featherweight division off of two gold medal wins at the 2023 Dallas and LA Opens. On the other side of the bracket, BJJ legend Cleber Sousa fights for his second Pans title since his stellar 2019 tournament run. Dropping a loss to Mikey Musumeci in the One FC inaugural grappling championship bout in December of last year, Sousa brings an incredible defensive game to both gi and no gi.
FEATHERWEIGHT
The featherweight division features returning champion Alexssandro Sodré taking on the winner between Danilo Moreira and Thiago Brito. Rebounding from a silver medal run at the European Open, Sodré spent the rest of his time since his last Pans sharpening his game and appearing at smaller tournaments. Brito similarly landed a silver finish at the Atlanta Open last month, the event further preparing him for tomorrow’s matches.
LIGHTWEIGHT
Lightweight champ Johnatha Alves also returns to defend his title. One of the most dominant athletes in the tournament, he’s held Pans gold for the last three years straight against a who’s-who of grappling royalty. Alves recently showcased his dominant positioning and mount pressure at the GP open earlier this month, taking home a razor thin decision over Andy Murasaki.
2021 Featherweight champ Shane Jamil Hill looks to join the LW division in hopes of reclaiming gold. His 2022 effort ended in a close decision loss to Sharpen Iron Academy’s Richar Nogueira, but his 2023 has been kept busy with seminars and other tournaments.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Moving up to middleweight, AOJ’s Tainan Dalpra Costa joins the long list of returning champions from 2022. On a crazy tear since his 2020 promotion, he helps spearhead the AOJ contingent at Pans with two consecutive gold medals in the last two tournaments. He faces either Felipe Silva of Unity or Rehan Muttalib of UACTP with a first round bye.
Norwegian grappler Tarik Hopstock has made some podium runs in his four years as a black belt. Inventor of the Tarikoplata submission, he hopes to break out of his 2nd and 3rd place finishes among various European IBJJF tournaments in starting with a first round win against Joshua S. McKinney.
MEDIUM HEAVYWEIGHT
The great Gustavo Batista makes a return to medium-heavyweight this year, delivering championship gold performances at the weight in 2019 before moving to heavyweight in 2020 and 2021. On the other side of the bracket, returning 2022 champ Sebastian Rodriguez fights right away against Checkmat rising star, Elder Cruz. A terror at lower belts, Cruz has built a solid reputation before this Pans debut as a reletively new black belt.
HEAVYWEIGHT
Two brackets filled with questionably muscular (USADA Pending) competitors make up the heavyweight division. Returning Champ Dimitrius Souza joins fellow Alliance grapplers Felipe Silva, Marcos Silva and Gabriel Henrique Dos S. Oliveira. Jersey native Devhonte Johnson hopes to upset the defending champ and add another Pans title to his wall. A master of lapel grips and guard, he’s utilized his athleticism and slower technical pace to achieve solid ins in the gi for years as a Unity JJ athlete.
Despite all the top grapplers in that side of the bracket, Roberto Jimenez enters as a crowd favorite to take the tournament by storm. The prodigy has had a fluctuating last few years, fighting close matches with several future hall of fame grapplers at only 23-years-old. Now sporting a wild mane and scraggly beard, ‘The Natural’ will be put right to the test against Polish butterfly guard master Adam Wardzinski.
SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT
Super heavies fire off at 6pm, with last year’s silver medalist Erich Minis taking on the winner of Eric Schlooser and Salenco Coutinho. Becoming the first non-black belt to win the Copa Podio GP in 2019, Munis utilizes his length in his incredibly effective open guard and sweep series. Italo Costa stands opposite on the bracket, he’s an Ares JJ fighter with an amazing ability to break down posture from guard for attacks, escapes and general defense.
ULTRA HEAVYWEIGHT
Finally onto the ultra-heavyweights, and where the gaps caused by the fight sports bans become really noticeable. Though Cyborg is sitting at home, FS black belt Roosevelt Souza carries the banner against Renato Dos Santos Tagliari of Checkmat fame. Though a big controversy, the other big story of the division lies in the return of Nicholas Meregali to gi competition. One of the most dominant athletes competing today, he took a brief break from PJ wrestling after winning the 2022 worlds. Pedro José Pessoa De Melo Bisneto of ZR Team Association and Jose Inacio Dos Santos of Reaction MMA will fight for the chance to send Meregali home and nab possibly the biggest upset on the Pans.
Kevin Bradley is a Jersey-based grappling journalist for Bloody Elbow. He began writing for the site in 2022, and has covered both BJJ and MMA news since 2018. (full bio)