You’ll find complete coverage of the Jiu-Jitsu Pan at the GRACIEMAG at the Pan Blog.

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Photos: Ivan Trindade

On the IBJJF website, you can already get a picture of the path the 2,600 athletes signed up for the event will have to take on their way to the gold medal.

The GRACIEMAG at the Jiu-Jitsu Pan Blog took the opportunity to do a brief analysis of the matches we may see in the black belt male and female categories.

Rush over there and find out who faces who.

10. To see up close the fans of Alliance, Gracie Barra, Gracie Humaitá, Lloyd Irvin and others during the finals – something akin only to the classic showdowns in the world’s most popular sports.

9. To try for an historic medal. After all, the Pan is the longest-running competition in international Jiu-Jitsu.

8. To cross paths in the stands with MMA stars of the past, present and future. Cain Velasquez, BJ Penn, Frank Mir, Rodrigo Minotauro and plenty more spilt sweat on the same California mats as you.

7. To have a chance to beat a future fight star and one day tell your grand kids about it.

6. To shoot the breeze with a cage-fighting star, who will be there to watch true Jiu-Jitsu stars: you and your teammates!

5. The Pan is more than a championship, it’s a great, big Jiu-Jitsu fair. The big brands, teachers and gyms are always there. Not to mention the GRACIEMAG stand, always a show of its own.

4. You could very well be the best fighter of the Americas today. . . and not yet know it. How do you find out? By competing.

3. Besides competing, you will also learn from a dozen black belt world champions, all signed up for the 2011 Pan – like Bernardo Faria, Rafael Mendes, Gabi Garcia and other.

2. An aesthetic reason: the official Pan T-shirt, which you receive with sign-up, is awesome. Whenever you wear it, you’ll remember the experience you had.

1. It’s your chance to put on a show and try and show up on GRACIEMAG.com and – who knows? – maybe even the magazine. It doesn’t hurt to remind you, the Pan photo gallery on the GRACIEMAG.com website always leads in the number of hits – an elaborate move, a strong campaign and – voilà! – you participation at the Pan has been made timeless.

Hillary Williams, divided between the Pan and her unusual thesis / Photo: Regis Chen

The female division at the Pan coming up later this month is starting to take shape. As ascertained by GRACIEMAG.com, many-time world champion Hannette Staack is another big name to bolster the lineup.

Current middleweight champion of the world Hillary Williams is another GRACIEMAG.com found out will be at the biggest Jiu-Jitsu tournament of the season up until now.

Although she says she’s plenty excited about the 2011 Pan, Hillary says she’s sleeping poorly. But the blame doesn’t fall on her opponents or the adrenaline inherent in competing.

“This year’s Pan will be the same as always: really tough and really fun. I don’t know exactly who will be in it, but for sure the usual girls will be there, opponents as tough as they are good people. That’s why I’m excited. The problem is that I’m in my final semester of the first stage of med school, studying and training the whole day. That’s why I’m having so much trouble finding time to sleep,” she says.

And what does the champion have in mind for her thesis?

“I opted for a theme with a philosophical slant to itl, to not be stuck only in medicine. I’m writing about the development of the female identity in a men’s sport like Jiu-Jitsu,” she said in summary.

This student gets an A+.

For exclusive and different coverage of the 2011 Pan, head over to the GRACIEMAG at the Pan Blog, here.

Don’t piddle around, secure your spot at the 2011 Pan, clicking here!

Chico Melo getting his back tattooed...

Those who watched Brazilian blockbuster “Elite Squad 2” may have missed it, but gang leader “Qualé”, who was brutally burned to death early in the movie, featured on the cover of GRACIEMAG #2, performing an intricate maneuver at the second-ever Pan event, in California.

Chico Melo, who at the time was 110 lbs lighter, was the first Pan champion emblazoned on a GRACIEMAG cover.

The Nova União fighter was still a purple belt, but the photo of him carrying out a crucifix-omoplata was considered the best of the batch by our photography editors, which yielded him the most coveted page in Jiu-Jitsu.

Although the scene captured was a preliminary match, Chico went on to tear through the purple belt middleweight division, defeating future two-time absolute black belt world champion Rodrigo Comprido in the final.

Did the achievement mark the life of the now actor?

All that needs to be said is that years later the champion tattooed the scene on his back, so that he and a reminder of the title and the cover would never part ways.

... the cover of GRACIEMAG number 2....

How about you, did any particular story from the Pan affect your life? Send it in to us!

And don’t miss coverage of the event here and on the GRACIEMAG at the Pan Blog.

To leave no room for regret later, secure your place at the biggest Jiu-Jitsu party in the Americas, click here and sign up!

... and the final result. Photos: Personal archive.