Beatriz Lina/GRACIEMAG

In the lead-up to the 2018 Jiu-Jitsu Worlds, which will kick off next week, today we remember one of the semifinal absolute matches held in 2017.

Leandro Lo, stronger and more offensive, was facing Luiz Panza and his sneaky leg attacks. The result: a beautiful clash of a passer and a guard player.

Lo fought on top for most of the match while Panza was trying to sweep or attack his foot. They both reached deep into their toolboxes to try and advance to the final.

With pressure from the top, Lo managed to pass and score three decisive points. He even played guard in the final minutes, as Panza took his last shot — but, indeed, the win belonged to the NS Brotherhood leader.

Remember the bout in the following video, and stay tuned to Graciemag.com as well as our Instagram accounts for coverage of the 2018 Worlds.

Panza e Lo fizeram grande luta no Mundial de 2017. Foto: Beatriz Lina/GRACIEMAG

No aquecimento para o Mundial de Jiu-Jitsu de 2018, que terá início na próxima semana, relembramos uma das semifinais do absoluto faixa-preta na Pirâmide de Long Beach, na Califórnia, num já histórico Mundial de Jiu-Jitsu de 2017.

De um lado, Leandro Lo, mais forte e ofensivo, encararia Luiz Panza e seus sorrateiros ataques nos membros inferiores. Resultado: um belo combate de passador x guardeiro.

Lo jogou na maior parte da luta por cima, enquanto Panza tentava raspar ou atacar o pé de Lo. Ambos os atletas abriram a caixa de ferramentas na intenção de avançar à sonhada finalíssima do absoluto, mas apenas um passaria.

Lo, com pressão por cima, conseguiu passar e acumular os três pontos da vitória. Ele ainda chegou a fazer guarda nos últimos minutos enquanto Panza tentava seu último tiro para vencer, mas a vitória ficou de fato com o líder da NS Brotherhood.

Relembre a disputa no vídeo abaixo e fique ligado no GRACIEMAG.com e no nosso Instagram para a melhor e mais tarimbada cobertura do Mundial de Jiu-Jitsu 2018!

Preguiça celebrates his title. ACBJJ Instagram.

Felipe “Preguiça” Pena and Luiz Panza did Brazil proud in the Absolute Championship Berkut’s 16-man GP, held Saturday in Warsaw, Poland. They each defeated three opponents to become under-95kg and over-95kg champion, respectively.

Under 95kg

Preguiça started out by submitting Igor Silva via guillotine. Then, in a semifinal, he beat Poland’s own Adam Wardzinski on points. In the final Preguiça was pitted against Erberth Santos; Preguiça walked away with the title after taking the back and applying the bow-and-arrow choke.

Over 95kg

Luiz Panza kicked off his campaign by finishing Moku Kahawai with a heel hook. Then he caught Ricardo Evangelista in a knee bar. The final saw Panza take on Alexander Trans, and Panza ended up with a decision win.

Luiz Panza – ACB JJ champion in 95+ kg division. Congratulations champ, this was just awesome! – Луиз Панза – чемпион ACB JJ в весе свыше 95 кг. Поздравляем, чемпион, это было потрясающе! – #acbjj #jiujitsu #warsaw #poland

A post shared by Absolute Championship Berkut (@acb_jj) on May 7, 2017 at 4:16am PDT

Na final peso pesadíssimo faixa-preta, Panza encarou Manuel Diaz (Soulfighters) e conseguiu girar para finalizar com exímio ajuste.

Confira o lance no vídeo abaixo!

Nosso GMI Gabriel Marangoni reinou nos pesos-penas e faturou o checão da IBJJF. Foto: IBJJF/Facebook

A IBJJF realizou, no último final de semana, mais uma edição do seu famoso BJJ Pro, desta vez em Los Angeles, na Califórnia.

Com o atrativo de distribuir belos prêmios em dinheiro, um batalhão de cascas-grossas compareceram para a disputa, e o show de Jiu-Jitsu rolou  como era de se esperar.

O torneio, que não conta com absoluto na faixa-preta, recebeu nomes conhecidos da arte suave na disputa dos cheques nas categorias de peso, que são enxutas para quatro delas, apenas (pena, médio, pesado e pesadíssimo).

Na categoria mais leve, a dos pesos-penas, quem se deu bem foi nosso GMI bom de Jiu-Jitsu Gabriel Marangoni (CTA), que bateu Richard Jr (Atos) para ficar com a vitória e o cheque de quatro mil dólares.

No peso médio, foi a vez de Otávio Sousa (GB), que sobrepujou o perigoso Nathan Mendelsohn  (Coalition 95) na final para garantir o topo do pódio.

Entre os pesados, o veterano Tarsis Humphreys (Alliance) não quis saber do favoritismo de Kennen Cornelius (Atos) e foi com tudo para morder a vitória e o prêmio na final da categoria.

Já no pesadíssimo, foia vez de Luiz Panza brilhar e faturar o prêmio, ao bater Manuel Diaz (Soulfighters) na final.

Para conferir os resultados completos da disputa em Los Angeles, clique aqui!

Luiz Panza def. Manny Diaz. Photo: Luca Atalla/ Gallerr

The Los Angeles BJJ Pro IBJJF Championship, which took place last Sunday at California State University, in Los Angeles, was a stage to great matches and awarded its champions with prize money from blue belt to black belt masters’. In the adults’ black belt section, which had Luiz Panza, Tarsis Humphreys, Otávio Sousa and Gabriel Marangoni as standouts, the prize was 4,000 dollars for first and 1,000 for second of each category (feather, middle, heavy and ultra-heavy).

At featherweight, with four signed up, the winner was Gabriel Marangoni. The Caio Terra pupil only fought the final, since Michael Musumeci did not show up. In the semifinal that did take place, Rick Slomba (Atos Jiu-Jitsu) beat Rene Lopez 2-1 on advantages. Then Marangoni used a triangle on Slomba to bag the gold.

Four athletes also signed up for the middleweight tourney, and Otávio Sousa came out on top. In one semifinal, Nathan Mendelsohn (Coalition 95) beat Thomas Oyarzum (Fernando Terere Association) 8-2. Otávio defeated his Gracie Barra teammate Gabriel Arges via foot lock. In the final, a triangle gave Otávio Sousa the title.

Tarsis Humphreys. Photo: IBJJF

At heavyweight, world champion Tarsis Humphreys collected another gold. In the six-fighter competition, first Nick Schrock (Ribeiro JJ) subbed Arnaldo Maidana on the foot to advance to the semis. Then Tanner Rice (Soul Fighters) armbarred Inácio Neto (Gracie Barra) after scoring 13-0.

Nick Schrock was then faced with Alliance’s Tarsis Humphreys and lost 6-0. The other semifinal was Tanner Rice vs. Atos Jiu-Jitsu’s Keenan Cornelius, who won 6-0. The controversial final saw Keenan use a toe hold and Tarsis complain that Keenan had reaped the knee. The referees interrupted the match to watch the replay. After discussing at length, they reached the conclusion that Keenan had indeed acted illegally, which meant he was disqualified. That left Tarsis as champion.

Luiza Panza. Photo: IBJJF

Ultra-heavyweight Luiz Panza, of Checkmat, was victorious in his weight class. After subbing Eliot Kelly (Yemaso BJJ) via foot lock he had his ticket to the final. He was joined the by Manny Diaz, who beat fellow Soul Fighter João Gabriel Rocha 2-1 on advantages (4-4 on points). Panza again used his trademarked foot lock to finish first.

Gracie Barra won the teams’ contest, ahead of Checkmat and Atos Jiu-Jitsu.

Click here for complete results.

Uma dessas brincadeiras rolou uma semana antes do torneio de 2016. Luiz Panza e Marcus Buchecha, da Checkmat, se colocaram em moento incomum no tatame. Panza, se proclamoou o ninja do momento, com um nunchaku em mãos e posição de ataque.

Buchecha, cobaia da brincadeira, colocou um pote de suplementos na cabeça para ser o alvo de Panza.

“Confia em mim”, disse o faixa-preta exímio pegador de pés. No fim das contas, Panza consegue acertar o alvo, mas repare como o primeiro golpe passa perto da cabeça de Buchecha. O campeão peso e absoluto do torneio, que rolou uma semana depois do vídeo, foi salvo por pouco!

Confira o lance no vídeo abaixo:

Steve Shimizu and Kennan

The 2016 Marianas Open is just around the corner.

The event scheduled April 16 will gather some big names this Saturday in the beautiful island of Guam.

The organizers just released the brackets for the adult male black belt division, which is worth $15k in money prizes.

Here are the paths to the bounty for each athlete registered.

Bracket 1

Felipe Pena vs. Bryant Pangelinan

Luiz Panza vs. Igor Schneider

Bracket 2

Terrence Aflague vs. Rhalan Gracie

Keenan Cornelius vs. Guilherme Augusto

Final

Winner of bracket 1 vs. Winner of bracket 2

As you can see, last year’s champion, Keenan Cornelius is one side while Felipe Pena and Luiz Panza are on the other side.

Pena and Panza could meet in the semifinal while Keenan could face the always tough Rhalan Gracie on the other semifinal.

Click here for more info and to find out how you can watch the action live from Guam.

The 2016 edition of the Marianas Open is lining up to be one historic moment for Jiu-Jitsu in Guam, on April 16.

An all-star team of black belts will land in the Pacific island to compete in the open class and battle for $15k in prizes.

The champion will pocket $10k, while the runner up will get $3k and the third place will get $2k.

The 2015 champion Keenan Cornelius is back to defend his title, but he’ll have his work cut out for him.

Felipe pena, Luiz Panza, Rhalan Gracie, Bryant Pangelinan, Cristiano Kaminishi, Guilherme Augusto and Igor Schneider are also in the mix.

The Marianas Open is also an event for competitors of all ages and belt rankings.

The online registration is closed, but if you are in Guam you can still register at the Fokai store in Hagatna.

If you can’t fly to Guam, you can watch the live stream on PPV. Click here to order it.

Click here to know more.

Luiz Panza

An odd snapping sound filled the IPIC Arena at the 2015 WPPJC and Felipe Pena immediately released the toehold on Luiz Panza’s right leg. Panza himself took a while to realize what had just happened and he even said he was ok to continue. That was when he looked down and saw his ankle bending awkwardly, evidence of a double fracture on his lower leg.

Panza was transported to a local hospital in Abu Dhabi and went into surgery a few days later. He knew he had a long road ahead. “It was hard times, I have to confess. Nevertheless, since the surgery I kept focused and did everything I could to be back competing, since physiotherapy until training,” says Panza.

After such a stressful situation, Panza tells us how he dealt with the psychological side of returning to Jiu-Jitsu: “It never crossed my mind that I was not going to be able to return. I knew I was going to have to go through this hard times and then come back stronger.”

Panza is known for his attacks to legs and feet of opponents, but that also makes his own legs vulnerable. Even so, he says he’s not afraid of anything: “I am going to try to play a more varied game, but if I find myself on that position I’ll go for it. What happened was an accident and I have no fear of happening again.”

The return to the big stage took place at the 2016 Pan and Panza won the superheavy division with a toehold attack to Alex Ceconi in the final.

The heavyweight GP of Copa Podio took place this Saturday, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Felipe Pena was the standout, taking the title home.

After finishing second in the yellow group, Preguiça defeated Tim Spriggs (green group champion) with a sweep.

The final was against Victor Honorio and Pena got the win with a choke from the back.

In the superfight, Leandro Lo outscored Sergio Moraes 6-0 to win.

For the compete results, go to copapodio.com