Pan Americans Irvine Venue / Photo by John Cooper

The Pan Jiu-Jitsu championship is one of the most thrilling events of the year for a reason.

Every edition brings unbelievable experiences both for athletes and the crowd.

With the best in the business going at it full throttle on the mats, it’s easy to witness awesome things happen.

With the final deadline to sign up for the 2016 Pan nearing (March 8), it’s time to look back and remember 5 of these unbelievable things that happened at the Pan.

Here we go.

1. No one touched Monique Elia’s injured ankle

MONIQUE ELIAS DURING THE 2015 PAN

Last year, Monique Elias was beating Tammy Griego 10-0 in the black belt open class quarterfinal when she made the mistake of crossing her ankles while on back mount. The ankle lock applied by Tammy left Monique screaming in pain and most probably out of commission for weeks. Tough as nails, Elias was back in action the day after for her weight division. She had a very noticeable limp and heavy bandage left foot. It was clear that she would not be able to resists even a light pressure on that foot. Even so, not one of her three opponents attacked her ankle in a impressive showing of sportswomanship. Brave and talented, Monique was able to make her way to the final and win the middleweight title. Luiza Monteiro, Monique’s opponent in the final, summed up why no one touched the badly injured ankle:“ I wanted to beat her at her best. I wanted to pass her guard and tap her; I didn’t want to go after her foot. That would not prove I’m better than her.” Monique was thankful, but also a bit in disbelief:“Fortunately I had three matches with three people of great character, which did not attack my foot. I thought that was a very noble act by them. It was an indescribable feeling!”

2. Bruno Paulista could be dead, but instead he returned to competition at the 2015 Pan

© John Cooper, Lineage

Black belt Bruno Paulista, aka Mamute, was a a true talent and one of the most active competitors of his generation, both in Jiu-Jitsu and MMA. He was also the leader of Mamute Jiu-Jitsu, in Anaheim, California. Then, on April 23, 2010, a slippery road in Florianopolis, Brazil, changed his life. Paulista hit his car and his head on a light pole. When he got to the hospital, the doctors gave him a 30% chance of survival. Even so, he pulled through and after 5 years of recovery, including physical therapy and reconstructive surgeries, on March 14, 2015 Mamute was back competing again. later on, he talked about the experience: “Saturday was a very special day for me. I didn’t win the Pan Ams but I won in my life. It was a big victory to be back competing after my car accident and I am really proud to have amazing family and friends. I wouldn’t be able to do it without my girlfriend Jessica Schumacher, my mom Angela Paulista, my brother Hugo Paulista, and Jeff Rohn. I want to thank everyone that helped me to get ready: all my students, and the black belts Magno Almeida, Ricardo Testai, Renato Sobral, and Jorginho Closel.”

3. The match Milton Bastos had to win twice in 2014

The adult male black belt roosterweight semifinal between Milton Bastos (Brasa CTA) and Ivaniel Oliveira (Checkmat) was nerve-racking. The drama started early on, when Milton caught Ivaniel in a tight triangle. Referee Andre Glodzinski was paying close attention to the defense attempt by Ivaniel and at one point he was convinced that the Checkmat athlete had lost conscience, which meant the fight was over. Glodzinski stopped the match and to his surprise, Ivaniel was wide awake and saying he did not tap. “I saw his legs relaxing and was sure he had slept, so I stopped the match. Thinking back, I should have checked Ivaniel’s legs closely before stopping it. The thing is that the fight prior to that one ended with one of the athletes cold out and my action was to preserve his physical integrity” explained Andre. The solution for the mistake came in the form of two points for Milton and the restart of the match at the point it was interrupted.

The final celebration

The problem for Bastos was that he went from submitting his opponent to being in deep waters soon after. As soon as the match restarted, Ivaniel went for it and passed Milton’s guard. Now behind in the scoreboard, Milton kept playing guard and almost had another triangle choke in place. Ivaniel escaped and almost got Milton’s back with less than one minute left. That’s when things got unreal. With the clock running out, Milton escaped the back attack and rolled on top to attack Ivaniel’s back himself. First he put the hooks to score 4 points and then went for the neck. With seconds to the end, Ivaniel did what he didn’t do in the beginning and tapped three times. Bastos’ celebration came out with the intensity that only those who have to win twice the same match can reach. He tried to put it into words: “Gosh, it’s hard to explain! It was a relief from the frustration of having the match restarted. This frustration quickly became joy when I tapped him again. I didn’t even know how much time left we had and all I heard was my coaches Samir Chantre and Osvaldo Moizinho telling me to put the hooks in to win. I did that, but I also felt that my hand was deep in his collar and all I wanted was to submit him again.”

4. Braulio Estima won weight and absolute with 7 submissions in 7 matches in less than 6 minutes on the mats

Braulio Estima still holds dear his performance at the 2003 Pan. At the brown belt division, he fought seven times and finished all of his seven opponents. After it was over, he checked the match and found out that he had spent less than 6 minutes on the mats, or exactly 5:24, an average of 46s per match. “It was one of the best competitions I ever fought in. I could not believe my eyes!” said Braulio years later.

5. The year Marcelinho came to watch, but ended up winning the middleweight division

In 2007, Marcelo Garcia travelled from New York to California just to watch his students and Alliance teammates compete. Focused on the ADCC, that would happen months later, he was not planning to compete in the gi. Even so, Fabil Gurgel put some good pressure on his golden boy and MG agreed to compete. Bad news for the athletes in the middleweight division, who had to endure one of the best of all times putting to test a armbar from the crucifix he had been training. Garcia’s gold medal helped Alliance to conquer the adult division that year.

Don’t forget to register for the 2016 Pan. The final deadline is March 8, so you need to hurry.

Click here to sign up now.

Em seu duelo contra o casca-grossa Milton Bastos, Caio fintou, raspou e conseguiu finalizar num sorrateiro estrangulamento por cima.

Confira o combate no vídeo abaixo!

First group photo of Ares BJJ Photo by Alex Barcelona

They say everything happens for a reason, and whether that is your philosophy or not, Ares BJJ Association grew from an idea into an action, into a reality. The four founding members, Samir Chantre, Osvaldo Queixinho, Milton Bastos and Alan Moraes, all with lasting impacts on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu have just opened their doors, wide, to their new association and are ready to show the world who they are.

Ares BJJ is putting family at the forefront. Their mission is to bring jiu jitsu to the next level and change lives. However, they have made one point very clear; and that is that they don’t just want affiliations, they want family member. A sense of home and community was the most important and driving force when launching the association. Expect big things for this new and solid team.

Check them out at www.aresbjj.com and get to know more about their philosophy and goals.

Daniel usou o triângulo para sufocar Milton Bastos (Brasa) na final peso-pluma. Veja como foi:

James Puopolo secures a triangle. Photo: Kristen Mendes / Kristenphotos

Another first this weekend for the IBJJF was the Seattle Open held at Everett Community College. This was the first opportunity for those in the Northwest to experience an IBJJF tournament in their own backyard.

The overall team scores were as follows:

1 – Gracie Barra – 247
2 – Lovato Jiu-Jitsu – 114
3 – SBG International (SBGI) – 109

In the male black belt light-featherweight category, Milton Bastos earned the gold after defeating his opponent Thiago Goncalves.

The featherweight division title was earned by Wellington “Megaton” Dias after he won over Gustavo Carpio.

Lightweight gold went to Jason Palacios who defeated Zach Adamson.

Luis Rosa took on Cleves de Matos to earn the middleweight title.

James Puopolo defeated Larry King for the ultra-heavyweight gold.

James also earned the double gold of the day having conquered the open class as well.

To see a full photo album go here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.983499991665333.1073742073.192240324124641

For full results visit here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000322/en-US/Results.pdf

Milton Bastos. Photo: Erin Herle

One of the biggest tech companies in the world has taken in the Jiu-Jitsu lifestyle. While the community of Jiu-Jitsu is comprised of many, many different types of people, the fact that Google has brought in an instructor for Jiu-Jitsu classes on site is something new.

Milton Bastos, a black belt training at GMA Institute of Martial Arts in San Jose, CA has become the Google Jiu-Jitsu professor. Here’s his story of how it came about:

“It’s a funny story because I had read a Facebook post asking who was available to work during lunch time, and I wasn’t doing anything at this time and it was close to my house, so I said I could do it. I sent a curriculum but I didn’t know to whom I was applying to teach. I just knew it was in a company. I have classes at T-mobile too so I thought it was inside a small office as well. Later on when they called me to go there to teach the classes they told me it was for Google… and when I got there to teach I actually found an old student from when I used to live down South and there were guys from Caio’s place too.

I teach inside of the main campus in Mountain View. They have a specific building with an academy inside and they have a lot of equipment for fitness and health. It’s a really amazing facility. The class is open to anyone from Google so I have engineers, designers, lawyers, chefs, all kinds of people and have a lot of girls, too, because it was advertised as self-defense and Jiu-Jitsu.

I kinda run two classes at the same time because the difference between the levels are huge. We have black belts, brown belts, and a lot new people in to try and learn what Jiu-Jitsu is. Plus, there are people who come in to try the self-defense as well.

It’s really different from the work at the academy because the guys over there do the classes really to relax and try to take the focus away from work; especially when they have some problems and can’t find a solution, so they don’t go there to compete. They go more to have fun, and those who know me, know my classes are fun. I’m never serious.”

Learn more about Milton Bastos and the trainings at Institute of Martial Arts at www.bjjsanjose.com

On July 26, kids instructor Milton Bastos of Institute of Martial Arts will be leading a kids camp.

Located at 855 Park Ave, San Jose, CA 95126, the camp will focus on techniques for kids aged 5 and up. All teams and affiliations are welcome.

It will run from 2 – 5 p.m. and the cost is $50 per kid.

To reserve your spot please visit www.miltonbastosbjj.com and for more information call 805-766-1370

To learn more about GMA Institute of Martial Arts visit www.bjjsanjose.com

Members and visitors alike can enjoy a special class at GMA Gracie Barra New England on Saturday, April 19 taught by Milton Bastos. The black belt of Caio Terra Association has experience teaching Jiu-Jitsu for many years up and down the California coast as well as in Brazil. He is also a certified IBJJF referee and international competitor having placed second at the 2014 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship last month.

Milton’s relaxed approach to Jiu-Jitsu makes him a fun instructor. But his classes are full of serious knowledge so don’t be fooled.

The class will take place at Gracie Barra New England located at 31 Granite Street Milford, MA 01757.

It will run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m and cost $30 per person.

You can reserve your spot and learn more information at www.carlosterrinha.com

Milton comemora, enquanto Glodzinski percebe o erro e Ivaniel protesta. Foto: Carol Gracie

No último Pan de Jiu-Jitsu, a semifinal do peso-galo faixa-preta masculino, entre Milton Bastos (Brasa CTA) e Ivaniel Oliveira (Checkmat), atingiu níveis máximos de tensão.

Tudo começou ainda nos primeiros minutos, quando Milton pegou Ivaniel num justo triângulo. O árbitro, Andre Glodzinski, estava atento na defesa de Ivaniel, mas num certo momento ele achou que o atleta da Checkmat havia perdido a consciência.

Glodzinski parou a luta e, para sua surpresa, Ivaniel estava bem acordado e dizendo que não tinha batido.

“Eu vi as pernas dele relaxando e achei que ele tinha dormido, então interrompi o combate. Pensando bem, eu deveria ter checado melhor as pernas de Ivaniel antes de parar a luta. Minha ação no momento foi preservar a integridade física do atleta”, disse André.

O primeiro triângulo da luta. Foto: Ivan Trindade

A solução para o equívoco foi dar dois pontos para Milton e promover o reinício do combate, a partir do momento em que havia sido interrompido. O problema é que Milton saiu de uma situação de quase finalização para um sufoco total instantes depois.

Assim que a luta recomeçou, Ivaniel partiu para cima e passou a guarda. Naquele momento, atrás no placar, Milton precisou sobreviver. Repôs a guarda e até tentou colocar o oponente mais uma vez no triângulo. Ivaniel escapou e quase pegou as costas de Milton. Faltava um minuto para o fim. Foi aí que as coisas ficaram surpreendentes.

Ivaniel passa a guarda de Milton. Foto: Ivan Trindade

Com o tempo acabando, Milton escapou do ataque nas costas e contra-atacou Ivaniel. Primeiro, Milton colocou os ganchos para conquistar os quatro pontos, e então foi para o pescoço. Com poucos segundos para o fim, Ivaniel fez o que não tinha feito na primeira tentativa de Milton, e deu os três tapinhas. A comemoração de Bastos foi intensa, como só aqueles que finalizam duas vezes numa luta sabem como é.

Ele tentou definir em palavras: “Cara, é difícil de explicar. Primeiro foi uma grande frustração ter o combate reiniciado, mas essa frustração se tornou felicidade e alívio duplo quando eu finalizei de fato. Nem sabia quanto tempo faltava para o fim da luta, só ouvi meus treinadores, Samir Chantre e Osvaldo Moizinho, dizendo para eu enfiar os ganchos para vencer. Eu fiz, mas ao mesmo tempo senti que a minha mão estava bem funda na lapela dele, e vi que dava para finalizar novamente!”.

Após essa batalha, Milton terminou a categoria em segundo lugar, ao perder a final para João Pedro Rodrigues, o Somália, da Checkmat, por uma punição.

Clique aqui e reveja este que foi um dos combates mais emocionantes do Pan 2014.

Milton comemora, pela segunda vez, a vitória. Foto: Ivan Trindade

Milton celebrates, Glodzinski realizes the mistake and Ivaniel protests

The adult male black belt roosterweight semifinal between Milton Bastos (Brasa CTA) and Ivaniel Oliveira (Checkmat) was nerve-racking.

The drama started early on, when Milton caught Ivaniel in a tight triangle.

Referee Andre Glodzinski was paying close attention to the defense attempt by Ivaniel and at one point he was convinced that the Checkmat athlete had lost conscience, which meant the fight was over.

Glodzinski stopped the match and to his surprise, Ivaniel was wide awake and saying he did not tap.

Bastos’ first triangle

“I saw his legs relaxing and was sure he had slept, so I stopped the match. Thinking back, I should have checked Ivaniel’s legs closely before stopping it. The thing is that the fight prior to that one ended with one of the athletes cold out and my action was to preserve his physical integrity” explained Andre.

The solution for the mistake came in the form of two points for Milton and the restart of the match at the point it was interrupted.

The problem for Bastos was that he went from submitting his opponent to being in deep waters soon after.

As soon as the match restarted, Ivaniel went for it and passed Milton’s guard.

Now behind in the scoreboard, Milton kept playing guard and almost had another triangle choke in place.

Ivaniel passes

Ivaniel escaped and almost got Milton’s back with less than one minute left.

That’s when things got unreal.

With the clock running out, Milton escaped the back attack and rolled on top to attack Ivaniel’s back himself.

First he put the hooks to score 4 points and then went for the neck.

With seconds to the end, Ivaniel did what he didn’t do in the beginning and tapped three times.

The final celebration

Bastos’ celebration came out with the intensity that only those who have to win twice the same match can reach.

He tried to put it into words: “Gosh, it’s hard to explain! It was a relief from the frustration of having the match restarted. This frustration quickly became joy when I tapped him again. I didn’t even know how much time left we had and all I heard was my coaches Samir Chantre and Osvaldo Moizinho telling me to put the hooks in to win. I did that, but I also felt that my hand was deep in his collar and all I wanted was to submit him again.”

Click here and relive the thrills of one of the best matches of the 2014 Pan.

Robson Moura at the 2012 Mastrs & Seniors Worlds passing guard. Photo: Ivan Trindade

The International Masters & Seniors World Championship offers a prestigious title for those over the age of thirty. But this tournament is not for the “old guys” as we may think it is but rather it is a chance for some top athletes to compete in a league of their own– a serious and talented league. A lot of the competitors who will be seen on the two-day October 5-6 roster at the Long Beach Walter Pyramid in California have already won titles in the adult divisions and even continue to compete in such divisions today.

We can consider it the best of both worlds. Some competitors who won the World Championship at adult this year in June will go on to win yet another world title at the Masters & Seniors Worlds, an exceptional accomplishment.

The registration is now open with black belt leaders already signed up such as: Bruno and Rico Bastos, Marcos Torregrosa, Daniel Beleza, Gustavo Pires, Leo Dalla, Fabio Leopoldo, Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral, Renato Tavares, Megaton Dias and more!

To register, go to www.ibjjf.org

Check out Robson Moura from last year’s Worlds where he won his eighth world title, combined with previous adult titles. Learn from his passing, counters and slick submissions:

It was a thrilling match that kept the audience on its feet.