Caio Terra, in photo by John Lamonica

While the final article and finest images await arrival in readers hands, GRACIEMAG.com takes a look back on the biggest Jiu-Jitsu event of the Americas, the IBJJF Pan.

To make sure you receive your copy of GRACIEMAG swiftly in the comfort of your own home every month, subscribe here. Take a look back at the eleven highlights of the last Pan, below:

11) The best of what went on at the Pan took place on Saturday, March 26, in the absolute division. If we must unfairly judge the event by the Sunday finals, it was about average. The absolute, though, was on par with the greatest championships I’ve ever seen.

10) In closing out the featherweight category, Ana Carolina, the wife of GMA Regis Lebre, became Pan champion without having to fight. Still she had an amazing achievement: she gave birth and then returned to competition not six months later, earning her way to the World Pro in Abu Dhabi.

9) One of the greatest matches of the tournament took place early on in the absolute, between Ryan Beauregard and Luiz Felipe Big Mac. The diminutive Arizonan took a six-point lead on Big Mac, but (literally) couldn’t take the pressure. Big rallied back passing guard and then deliberately returning just to pass again. After the match, Big dropped out of the absolute, clearing the way for the hard-nosed Bernardo Faria, who eventually took runner-up.

8) André Galvão was the grand medium heavyweight champion. But as he put it himself, he’ll need to pick up the pace to win the division at the 2011 Worlds.

7) In the master contest, our GMA Fábio Leopoldo had a hard-fought battle with Fernando Soluço that few in the adult division would have it in them to do.

6) The most out-of-this-world move of the 2011 Pan was Malfacine’s armbar on Megaton, in the featherweight division.

5) Caio Terra is one of the most technical athletes in present day Jiu-Jitsu. What’s up with that guard? Hooks all over the place, grips every which way. He’s got great defense and attack, and he’s a specialist in leg assaults.

4) The best black belt finals were at heavyweight, light featherweight and middleweight.

3) Honorable mention goes to Gabriel Vella. He lost to Bochecha in the very last instant, while having a great come-from-behind bout. He started out getting nailed with a double-leg takedown, flipped things around with a half-guard sweep, and brought the pressure down on the superheavyweight champion. He made a mistake at the tail end, and Bochecha was unforgiving. Gabriel is probably the black belt dating back the farthest still competing in the top flight, to the point of making waves in the absolutes of major tournaments. He didn’t do so well on Sunday, but his performance on Saturday made up for it.

2) Rodolfo is indeed the man. His game can give Roger some woes from a tactical standpoint, and there’s no doubt Xande will surely have his hands full. Wait and see what happens at the Worlds.

1) Braga Neto had particularly splendid performances in two matches: against Demente on Saturday and Big Mac on Sunday. Rodolfo sent him packing, but Big Neto was the tournament’s number two, better even than Faria. A hard nut to crack.

Check out images of the action from the event, below:

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Big Mac contains Ceconi's momentum at Miami Open 2009. Photo: Roy Santana.

Sign-ups for the Miami Open were extended until this Sunday, Oct 17, midnight, and the tournament throne is vacant.

Last year’s absolute champion, Luiz Felipe “Big Mac” Theodoro, lamentably, was unable to get his travel arrangements to the USA together.

“It’s a shame I won’t be able to defend my title, because the Miami Open is an awesome championship. I remember how last year’s one, the first one, was an excellent event. It’s a championship that came to stay, and will get better each time, with tough matches,” exalts Big, who will return to competition action at the South American Open in Santa Catarina. To prepare for it, he’s been hitting the mats hard with Roberto Tozi in Campinas, São Paulo state, as well as brushing up on his physical conditioning with Leonardo Neto, who has lately been working with soccer in the Middle East.

His memories of Florida are so sweet for a reason, as the ultra heavyweight won the final against rising-star Alexandre Ceconi, on whom he scored five points.

“Last year, Ceconi was still realtively unknown, and he took off after the Miami Open. But it wasn’t just that match, I feel that the large number of Brazilians in Florida makes the championship a really tough one at all belts,” analyzes Big Mac.

Indeed, there will be no easy weight group. From the lightweight Jonathan Torres, who also competed in 2009, to medal-collector Stephen Hall to middleweight Guto Campos, a lot of good guys are confirmed to be there.

By Saturday, a few hundred more athletes should sign up, so get in on the party. Visit www.ibjjf.org to participate and find out who else is in the Miami Open.

Guto Campos is another guaranteed to be there. Photo: Ivan Trindade

Sign-ups for the Miami Open are moving right along, with this Saturday’s deadline fast approaching. One thing guaranteed is that there will be plenty of great black belt action, just given the submission aces signed up for the October-23 IBJJF event so far.

Among them, Guto Campos is another looking good to try his luck at weight and open weight. In 2009, Luiz Felipe Big Mac was the open class champion, but he won’t be at Miami Dade College this time. Guto, European champion at weight and open weight this season, promises to head the battle.

However, there are many other hard-nosed competitors confirmed in the running. IBJJF director André Fernandes offers a taster of who’s in: Eduardo Milioli, Jonathan Torres, Diego Gamonal Nogueira, Gustavo Ramos Campos, Marcelo Conti, Marcela S. de Oliveira Macedo, Rodrigo Clark, Stephen Vincent Hall, Marco Antonio Giudice Machado, Alessandro Elisio Chalita de Souza, Daniel V. Alvarez Jr., Jason Scully, Rodrigo Antunes Guimarães, Jared Weiner, Marcos Paulo Guimarães de Barros, Rômulo Reis Pereira, Joao Moncaio, Renato Sampaio Tavares Filho and April Robinson, among others.

Do as they do and sign up for the Miami Open by clicking here.

Keep on top of the upcoming IBJJF events:
To find out more about the Miami Open, click here.
For more on the No-Gi Worlds, click here.

Rodrigo Cavaca at Worlds 2009. Photo: Regis Chen.

It’s time for the Pan, which is about to kick off at 10 am in Irvine, California.

GRACIEMAG.com never flees a fight and thus gives its predictions on the main categories in yet another major tournament.

ABSOLUTE BROWN

The open weight brackets haven’t yet been drawn up, nor are sign-ups out of the way. Of the names to appear in the weight divisions, standing out are revelation Marcus “Bochecha” Almeida (CheckMat), James Puopolo (Gracie Humaitá), Jarrod Bunch (Beverly Hills), David Kohl (Paragon), Clark Gracie (BJJ Revolution) and Ian MacPherson (Alliance Atlanta). If all of them go in: Bochecha in first, Jarrod second and Ian in third.

ROOSTERWEIGHT BLACK

Bruno Malfacine (Alliance) is the man to beat. But Joseph Capizzi, Felipe Costa and especially the unpredictable Makato Sawada can mix things up. Prediction: Bruno Malfacine and Felipe Costa.

LIGHT FEATHERWEIGHT

The light featherweight division is an ace festival, which should draw more attention than usual. Pablo Silva and Rafael Barata (Gracie Barra), Kuraoka (Axis), Felipe Lattari (Cia Paulista), Samir Chantre (Gracie Fighter), Sidemar (Cia Paulista) and Fabio Passos (Alliance) are solid names. And keep an eye on past world champions Carlos Holanda (CheckMat), Bernardo Pitel (Nova União) and Caio Terra (Gracie Fighter). Wellington Megaton (Gracie Humaitá) dropped a weight class to compete at light featherweight, promise of good takedowns. Prediction: Pablo Silva and Caio Terra.

FEATHERWEIGHT

The featherweight division, too, is chock full of tough guys, like Renan Borges (BTT), Javier Vasquez (Gracie), Canal (GFTeam) and Marcelino Freitas (Nova União). But Cobrinha doesn’t want a fifth title to escape him. Predictions: Rubens Charles “Cobrinha” and Renan Borges.

LIGHTWEIGHT

Bill Cooper, Rafael Formiga, Jonatas Tagarela, Jonathan Torres and newbie Bruno Amorim will try to impede a Langhi/Lepri shutout.
Predictions: Lucas Lepri and Michael Langhi.

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Sergio Moraes looks to seal the good phase he’s been having, months after shutting out the division with Marcelo Garcia at the Worlds. According to the brackets, he will have ahead of him Diego Gamonal, Mike Fowler or Kayron Gracie, Lucas Leite or Adriano Silva, Kron Gracie or the Rodrigos, Teixeira and Costa.
Predictions: Sergio Moraes and Lucas Leite.
MEDIUM HEAVYWEIGHT

In spite of the known and respected names on the list, current champion Otavio Sousa Sousa (Gracie Barra-PE) is the firm favorite, if just for what he did at the last Pan (and even was runner-up in the absolute).
Predictions: Otavio Sousa and Diego Herzog.

HEAVYWEIGHT
The division captained by Rafael Lovato Jr., is infested with promising former brown. From Ecuador, Léo Iturralde comes in to “feel the black belts’ pressure,” as he posted on twitter. From São Paulo, Léo Nogueira is looking to show why he’s the current brown belt world champion. And there’s still João Assis, absolute champion at brown belt from the last Pan, Gabriel Kitober, Bernardo Faria, all holders of titles at brown belt.
Prediction: Rafael Lovato and Bernardo Faria.

SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT
Could this be the most evenly-matched division of all times? Could very well be. In it are Marcel Fortuna, Fernando Soluço, Eduardo Ramos, Bruno Bastos, Carlos Melo and Rodrigo Cavaca, on one side; and Felipe “Monstro” Pacces, Guybson Sá, Braga Neto, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Daniel Azevedo and Roberto Tussa (moving up in weight), on the other.
Predictions? Get me out of this one, friend! Cavaca is one of the favorites, but he might not have trained that much because of his arm… I’ll take a stab: Braga Neto and Bruno Bastos.

ULTRAHEAVYWEIGHT
Big Mac on one side, Gabriel Vella on the other. That’s the final prediction.

Reis sought to incorporate the most talked about submission of the year into his arsenal, the choke from the mount, as he reveals to GRACIEMAG.com.

“I was inspired by Roger Gracie for this South American Jiu-Jitsu Championship, because while in training I would sink the choke from the mount, in some championships I would end up losing the position. I noticed some details that Roger uses to get the finish in his fights, as I got a chance to be near him at Gracie Barra Irvine, this last World Championship. I could see well while he rolled how he sinks it, how he puts his hand in deep, details of elbow positioning… the finer details. I think this was a fundamental part of the move working for me in my game. His Jiu-Jitsu is basic and really well done,” said Mario Reis, who used the choke from the mount to finish CheckMat’s Leon Amancio.

Roger Gracie catches Romulo Barral with a choke from the mount at the 2009 Worlds. Photo by Regis Chen

“I was inspired by Roger Gracie for this South American Jiu-Jitsu Championship, because while in training I would sink the choke from the mount, in some championships I would end up losing the position. I noticed some details that Roger uses to get the finish in his fights, as I got a chance to be near him at Gracie Barra Irvine, this last World Championship. I could see well while he rolled how he sinks it, how he puts his hand in deep, details of elbow positioning… the finer details. I think this was a fundamental part of the move working for me in my game. His Jiu-Jitsu is basic and really well done,” said Mario Reis, who used the choke from the mount to finish CheckMat’s Leon Amancio.

In the final, Reis beat Maxmiliano Campos (CheckMat) with a choke from the back at 1:30min of the match.

“I found the South American to be of a really good level, not just the black belts but the other belts, too. A student of mine had five matches to become blue belt champion, the whites fought a lot as well. All I needed was this title for my career, and I’m stoked for it and for the level of the championship,” said Mário Reis, a sure name on the rosters of the European Championship in January and the World Pro Jiu-Jitsu League, this coming weekend in São Paulo, with cash prizes and Michael Langhi, Tarsis Humphreys, Sérgio Morais, Luiz Felipe Big Mac, Bruno Malfacine among others in the mix.