One of the highlights of last Saturday’s BJJ Pro New York was the medium-heavy final between Nyjah Easton and Luiza Monteiro.

See how the action went down to define the champion of the division.

Leandro Lo celebrates his win. Photo: Erin Herle

The 2014 IBJJF NY BJJ Pro is the first of its kind. Held in the traditional NYC location of the Nat Holman Gymnasium on the campus of the City College of New York, it offered cash prizes to the winners of particular categories.

The black belts came in from the top levels of the sport and aimed to cash in. The divisions for the male adult black belts were combined as follows:

Feather was rooster, light-feather and feather mixed into one.

Middle was light and middle mixed into one.

Heavyweight was medium-heavy and heavy mixed into one.

Ultra-heavy was super-heavy and ultra-heavy mixed into one.

Here is how the divisions played out:

Feather

Joao Miyao vs. Gianni Grippo Photo: Erin Herle

Joao Miyao took the back of Mark Ramos and secured the choke to win his first match.

Gianni Grippo faced Jonathan Thomas and the match was a battle of sweeps. By the end of the match the score was 4-4 points, 1-1 advantages and the referee decision went to Gianni.

Joao Miyao had his second match against Paulo Roberto Santana and although he suffered a sweep, he was able to make it to the back and finish the match with a bow and arrow choke.

Osvaldo “Queixinho” had a bye and stepped into his first match with Gianni Grippo. The match was mostly sweeps, toehold attempts and one dive for a crucifix/kimura by Gianni. The time narrowed down and Queixinho was down by advantages but he quickly acquired them making the score even. But the referee decision was Gianni’s with a final score of 6-6 points, 3-3 advantages, 1-1 penalties for both.

In the final, it was Gianni versus Joao. They both pulled and Gianni came up for the advantage. Joao swept, Gianni swept back. The same exchange happened and Gianni attempted two toeholds to lead with advantages. Joao swept again in the exchange to lead by points. A last ditch effort by Gianni to earn takedown points while Joao pulled failed and the title along with the $4000 went to Joao.

Middle

Otavio Sousa secures the choke over Vitor Oliveira. Photo: Erin Herle

The first match of the middle division came between new black belt Kevin Mahecha and seasoned competitor AJ Agazarm. AJ pulled guard and Kevin passed to earn the lead. AJ swept but still needed points. He eventually earned a pass of his own and later a sweep giving him the win of 7-5 points.

Vitor Oliveira faced Vinicius Agudo for his first match. It didn’t take long for him to secure the back and later the choke for his first win.

Otavio Sousa entered the bracket and faced teammate AJ Agazarm. A quick takedown defense and pull to an omoplata started the match by Otavio. AJ was able to defend and Otavio swept and later took the back and choked for the victory.

In the final, Otavio was up against Vitor. The match began with Otavio jumping guard. Vitor opened the guard and worked to pass for awhile. Eventually Otavio exploded with a sweep. As he went to pass he secured the back and the choke for the title.

Heavy

Keenan Cornelius vs. Leandro Lo. Photo: Erin Herle

The first and only match of the heavy division was between Leandro Lo and Keenan Cornelius. Tim Spriggs was set to compete in the division but was not present. Keenan pulled guard and immediately went for the worm guard. Leandro was able to deal with the lapel around his legs and secured an advantage for a pass over halfway into the match. He earned another for another pass attempt. And again. But Keenan was able to sweep to take the lead by two points. Leandro swept back and as he worked for a pass, Keenan secured an omoplata and then a gogoplata but only managed to earn an advantage. As Keenan attempted another sweep, Leandro took stepped over and managed to take the back right before time ended earning him the 6-2 lead and the title.

Ultra-heavy

Bernardo Faria vs. Abraham Marte. Photo: Erin Herle

The first ultra-heavy match between Tiago Giussani and Antonio Henriques ended rather quickly as Tiago secured a toehold in the beginning.

Abraham Marte faced Kenny Brown. He pulled guard, went to triangle was able to submit fairly quickly.

Bernardo Faria went against Tiago Giussani and pulled and earned a sweep in the beginning of the match. He went for the over-under pass and was able to use his legs to stretch out Tiago’s leg and submit with a kneebar.

In the final, it was Abraham and Bernardo. Bernardo pulled and secured a sweep, and using the same over-under guard pass, he tapped Abraham with a kneebar for the victory and the title.

Females

Nyjah Easton celebrates her win. Photo: Erin Herle

The only division with more than one athlete was the medium-heavy for the girls. Combined, there were four.

Nyjah Easton drew Karen Peterson first round and earned a pass and almost a back-take. Karen escaped but Nyjah swept and went to top half where she submitted Karen with a kimura.

Luiza Monteiro had her first match against Nathalia Amaral. Luiza pulled to x-guard, tried for the back and swept and pushed to side control. Nathalia recovered her guard multiple times but Luiza was able to keep securing the pass. As Nathalia swept, Luiza locked in a loose triangle, transfered to an omoplata and swept and as Nathalia defended, Luiza submitted with a toehold.

In the final, Luiza pulled guard and tried to attack the feet of Nyjah. But Nyjah was able to step into top half and submitted Luiza with an ezekiel for the title.

Open Class

While males had no open class, the females had to win their open class in order to win a cash prize.

Nathalia Amaral defeated Karen Peterson by choke from mount.
Nyjah Easton defeated Bibiana Silva by kimura.
Luiza Monteiro defeated Nathalia Amaral by armbar.
Luiza defeated Nyjah by triangle armbar.

See full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000311/en-US/Results.pdf

See full photo gallery here:

Mackenzie Dern earned a spot in the final of the female black belt absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The first day of the 2014 World Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship ended with the black belt match-ups set up for tomorrow, Oct. 5. The new venue on the campus of Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, CA accommodated many athletes in and out of the mat areas.

The black belt absolute was a small number of the athletes but the talent was plenty. There were a total of seven females who signed up for the bracket. The matches were completed up until the final, which will be held tomorrow.

Here is how the matches panned out:

Leanna Dittrich of Fight Sports defeated Andresa Correa of Alliance by a triangle submission. As the match began, Andresa went for a nice ankle lock. Leanne stuck it out and earned a submission of her own that ended the match.

Mackenzie Dern of Gracie Humaita defeated Nyjah Easton of Team Lloyd Irvin by one advantage that was earned at the very start in the match. Mackenzie held Nyjah in her closed guard and the later part of the match had Nyjah with Mackenzie in her guard.

Luiza Monteiro of PSLPB Cicero Costha defeated new black belt Sijara Eubanks of Team Lloyd Irvin by kneebar. Sijara worked the pass, the two went into the 50/50 position and while Sijara attacked Luiza’s foot with a toehold, Luiza secured the kneebar.

In the semi-final, Mackenzie defeated Leanna by 3-0 points, 4-0 advantages. Leanna shot in for a takedown in the beginning of the match and Mackenzie defended and went to the back. Mackenzie stayed with one hook for most of the match as Leanna defended but Mackenzie was eventually able to earn a guard pass which gave her the 3 point lead and a spot in the final.

In the other semi-final, Gabi Garcia of Alliance defeated Luiza by an armbar. Gabi pulled guard, swept and closed in as she attacked the arm and a spot in the final opposite Mackenzie.

Stay tuned for the final female black belt absolute match between Mackenzie Dern and Gabi Garcia tomorrow, Oct. 5. Catch the livestream at www.ibjjftv.com

Check out a full photo gallery:

Gianni Grippo wins the black belt absolute defeating AJ Agazarm in the final. Photo: Erin Herle

The 2014 IBJJF New York Spring Open brought top black belts to the Nat Holman Gymnasium on the City College of New York campus. While some divisions only had one athlete, the absolute category brought those hungry athletes together.

Here are the results of each weight division and the absolute division:

ROOSTER

Washington Lima of GF Team defaulted gold as the only athlete registered.

LIGHT-FEATHER

Daniel Beleza of SAS Team defeated Mark Ramos of Ricardo “Rey” Diogo BJJ by one advantage earning him the gold as they were the only two in the division. The match was similar to their match at the Boston Spring Open only one week prior. Beleza jumped guard and Ramos worked his passing but also tried multiple times to leg drag and take the back. Beleza’s omoplata and sweep attempts gave him the advantage over Ramos for the gold.

FEATHER

Even though there were two athletes, Gianni Grippo of Alliance Marcelo Garcia defaulted gold as he was the only one to show.

LIGHT

Bricklin Welch of Team Redzovic defeated Diogo Almeida of Gracie Barra by armbar.
AJ Agazarm’s opponent in the bracket did not compete and so he went straight to the final against Brick. The match began with AJ going for a takedown and Brick defending enough to pull guard and go for a straight armbar. AJ defended even as Brick went “belly-down” to try and submit. Brick transitioned to an omoplata and swept to get on top and earn two points but AJ got out of the submission. AJ was able to utilize his top game well as he passed the guard three times, secured knee on belly and mounted at the end for a total of 15 points for Brick’s 2.

MIDDLE

There were only two athletes in this division but the skill level made this immediate final one to watch. Former teammates JT Torres, now of Atos Jiu-Jitsu, and DJ Jackson of Team Lloyd Irvin faced off for the gold. When the match began, JT jumped guard. A majority of the match had JT securing DJ in closed guard, opening for opportunities to submit or sweep. DJ also worked to pass, pushing for top half but at the end of the match the decision was left to the referees to decide and JT earned the gold.

MEDIUM-HEAVY

No athletes.

HEAVYWEIGHT

In the first match, Antonio Antonioli of Atos Jiu-Jitsu faced Fernando Moya of Renzo Gracie and an armbar secured the win for Antonio. He moved on to the final and faced Lincoln Pereira of Renzo Gracie. Lincoln jumped guard and not long after locked up a no-arm triangle for the gold medal.

SUPER-HEAVYWEIGHT

Tiago Almeida of Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu defaulted gold as the only athlete registered.

ULTRA-HEAVYWEIGHT

Diego Santana of Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu defaulted gold as the only athlete registered.

OPEN WEIGHT

AJ Agazarm defeated Washington Lima by choke,
Antonio Antonioli defeated Diego Santana by armbar.
Gianni Grippo defeated Diogo Almeida by 13-2 points.
Tiago Almeida defeated DJ Jackson by choke.

SEMI-FINAL

AJ Agazarm defeated Antonio Antonioli by 13-6 points.
Gianni Grippo defeated Tiago Almeida by two advantages.

FINAL

Gianni Grippo defeated AJ Agazarm by pulling guard, berimbolo-ing to the back and winning 4-0 points.

FEMALE

Nyjah Easton of Team Lloyd Irvin was the big winner as she defeated her only opponent, Bibiana Silva of inUFC Gym Stamford, in the lightweight division by kimura. The open weight division was a round robin with three females: Nyjah Easton, Bibiana Silva and Karen Peterson of Clockwork Jiu-Jitsu who defeated her opponent Jennifer Russell of Renzo Gracie in the medium-heavyweight division.

Nyjah defeated Bibiana in the first match, technically a semi-final by armbar.
Karen defeated Bibiana in the other semi-final by triangle armbar.

In the final, Nyjah aggressively pulled guard on Karen and was able to sweep right away. She passed as she came up and submitted Karen with a lapel choke from there.

Check out photos of the black belt weight divisions:

Gallery of the open weight divisions:

Black belt adult open weight podium at Abu Dhabi WPJJC Montreal trial. Photo: Erin Herle

Fabio Holanda ran his fifth trial in Montreal for the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship on Feb. 22. The one-day event ran quickly through the divisions with each trial winner earning their free package to the main event in April at lightning speed.

There were divisions for children all the way up to masters and each competitor battled for the gold on six mats circled by stadium seating for coaches, supporters and spectators.

The black belt adult males started off the day. To win a ticket, they needed to win their weight divisions. Most only had one to three matches each but the high level of participants prevented the journey from being a walk in the park.

Black belt adult male division results:

Light-featherweight Frederic Koomsatira of Brazilian Top Team won his division after a match against Nobuo Yagai. In the featherweight category, Leonardo Saggioro of BTT defeated Gianni Grippo in a 0-0 referee’s decision win.

Lucas Lepri, in the lightweight division, defeated Renan Borges of BTT by a choke from the back. Otavio Sousa had two matches in his division to win the gold at middleweight. His first match against Guy Montreuil was won with an armbar and the final against Tanner Rice was won by 9-0 from a sweep to pass to mount.

Abraham Marte sets up the triangle choke. Photo: Erin Herle

Medium-heavy was conquered by Brian Beaury from Black Hole Jiu-Jitsu with Lee Villeneuve from BTT earning his ticket in the super-heavyweight division. Lee also won the ticket last year as a brown belt and went on to win his division at the main event.

Abraham Marte of Yamasaki Academy punched in his ticket in the ultra-heavyweight division with two triangles and an armbar.

Black belt adult male open division results:

Lucas Lepri won the $1000 prize for the open weight division with Otavio Sousa in second and Leonardo Saggioro in third.

To start off, Otavio Sousa defeated Lee Villeneuve  by armbar.
Leonardo Saggioro defeated Nobuo Yagai by cross-choke from guard.
Abraham Marte defeated Tanner Rice by cross-choke from guard as well.
Lucas defeated Mohamed Amir by 7-0 in points.
Otavio defeated Gianni Grippo by 1-0 in advantages.
Lucas defeated Abraham by a guard pass to an armbar submission.
Otavio defeated Leo Saggioro by 4-2 in points.

In the fight for third, Leo Saggioro defeated Abraham by one advantage.

Lucas passes the guard. Photo: Erin Herle

In the final, Otavio pulled guard against Lucas. When attempting his signature omoplata attack, Lucas quickly jumped over and around to defend. Not much long after, Lucas passed Otavio’s guard and as Otavio turned away, Lucas sunk the bottom hook in to take the back. Lucas secured both hooks to receive the full amount of points for the position and the match ended with Lucas winning the $1000 cash prize and a second gold medal.

Female adult brown/black belt results:

A combined division of both brown belts and black belts for the females gave three opportunities to earn tickets to Abu Dhabi. The divisions were divided out for feather, light and heavy.

Nyjah win the featherweight division. Photo: Martin Nguyen

In the featherweight division, there was a round-robin between black belt Nyjah Easton of Lloyd Irvin, Kristina Barlaan of Caio Terra Association and Jane Minondo of Victory BJJ. Nyjah defeated Kristina in the first round by advantages. In the second round, Kristina defeated Jane by points to move into the final and go against Nyjah once more. Nyjah won against Kristina with advantages for the gold and the ticket.

The lightweight division included brown belt Sijara Eubanks of Lloyd Irvin and black belt Christina Berry of Behring Jiu-Jitsu. Sijara won the match by points to win the gold and the ticket.

The heavyweight division started with Alison Tremblay of BTT who defeated Ana Santana of Cicero Costha. Dominyka Obelenyte of Marcelo Garcia Academy then went against Ana and won by armbar submission. In the final, Dominyka defeated Alison by points to win the gold and the ticket.

Female adult brown/black belt open weight results:

Dominyka secures the choke. Photo: Erin Herle

To start off, Dominyka defeated Nyjah by 7-0 in points.
Sijara defeated Christina by armbar submission.
Dominyka defeated Jane by choke from the back.
Sijara defeated Alison by 6-0 in points.

For third place, Alison defeated Jane by points.

In the final Dominyka defeated Sijara by shoulder lock.

For full photos, check out the two albums on Flickr: Erin Herle’s photos and Martin Nguyen’s photos.

For full results, click here.

Talita celebrates her absolute gold to match her weight division gold. Photo: Erin Herle

On Sunday, Nov. 3 the second day of the No-Gi World Championship unfolded along with the female adult black belt divisions. With only four weight categories that held competitors, the divisions didn’t last long and neither did some of the matches.

The absolute division was the last black belt division of the day and it went the full amount.

Here is how each divisions played out:

Featherweight: Tammi Musumeci

New black belt Tammi Musumeci conquered the round-robin featherweight division defeating both Nyjah Easton and Tatiana Nascimento. The first round was between Tatiana and Nyjah with Tatiana winning via one advantage. The next match was between Nyjah and Tammi with Tammi taking the win via two points in a sweep battle that brought up the score to 8-6. The final between Tammi and Tatiana began with a guard pull by Tammi, a kneebar attempt and then a successful kimura from closed guard by Tammi.

Lightweight: Ana Carolina Lebre

Gracie Humaita black belt under Leticia Ribeiro, Ana Carolina Lebre defeated both of her opponents in almost the same way. The first match of the division was between Bibiana Silva and Thaysa Silva with Thaysa racking up 10 points for the win. The other semi-final was between Ana and Sophia Drysdale with Ana passing into mount two separate times and then submitting with an armbar. The final between Thaysa and Ana stayed on the feet until Ana took Thaysa down two separate times. Ana then passed and mounted and was able to gather more points from there to rack up a total of 15-0.

Medium-heavyweight: Luiza Monteiro

The division that Luiza Monteiro chose to enter this tournament was one heavier than her normal division but it’s not surprise. Toggling between various divisions for a challenge, she was able to come out on top through the round robin division for the gold this time. The first match between Luiza and Rachel Demara ended with Rachel earning the win via shoulder lock submission. The next match between Luiza and Shanti Abelha ended fairly quickly with a kneebar and Luiza earned her place in the final. Facing Rachel once again, she was the one to submit and grabbed an armbar from the 50/50 position to win the division.

Heavyweight: Talita Treta Nogueira

No stranger to championships, Brazilian Talita Treta Nogueira dominated her only opponent for first place. The final against Andresa Correa went the distance. The match started with a sweep for each early on but Talita earned advantages for a sweep attempt and takedown attempt. Talita spent some time working to pass Andresa’s guard and as the time ran out, Talita was up by two points with a final score of 4-2.

Absolute: Talita Treta Nogueira

In a match that was decided by footwork, Talita Treta Nogueira and Ana Carolina Lebre both refused to pull guard. They also failed to provide enough activity as deemed by the referees and both received stalling points, three penalties and two points awarded to the other opponent. The end score was two points each, three penalties each but three advantages for Talita versus the one advantage for Ana Carolina. Talita won double gold at the Worlds No-Gi. To see how the open weight divisions played out up until the finals, click here.

See full photos of the divisions:

Talita Treta will face Ana Carolina Lebre in the final match of the female black belt absolute set for Sunday. Photo: Erin Herle

The first day of the 2013 No-Gi World Championship on Saturday, Nov. 2 brought the black belts onto the blue and yellow mats in the Long Beach Walter Pyramid. For the females, eight black belts opted in for the absolute division to battle it out for who would go to the final match on Sunday.

Here is how the division played out:

Quarterfinals

Luiza Monteiro defeated Tatiana Nascimento by toehold.

Ana Carolina Lebre defeated Nyjah Easton by 7-0.

Rachel Demara defeated Andresa Correa by rear naked choke.

Talita Treta Nogueira defeated Shanti Abelha by 7-0.

Semifinals

Ana Carolina Lebre defeated Luiza Monteiro by 9-0.

Talita Treta Nogueira defeated Rachel Demara by 8-6.

Tomorrow, the final match will be Ana Carolina Lebre vs. Talita Treta Nogueira.

Check out the photos of the division:

Leandro Lo em ação sem kimono. Foto: Ivan Trindade/GRACIEMAG

A temporada sem kimono segue a todo vapor neste segundo semestre de 2013, então aproveite para testar seu Jiu-Jitsu sem a tradicional armadura de algodão.

As inscrições do Mundial Sem Kimono da IBJJF, nos dias 2 e 3 de novembro em Long Beach, na Califórnia, estão abertas, e a mais de dez dias do fim do prazo, cerca de 400 atletas já confirmaram seus nomes.

As inscrições terminam no dia 25 de outubro. Para saber valores e outras informações, visite o site oficial da IBJJF.

Por enquanto, os faixas-pretas DJ Jackson, James Puopolo, Léo D’Ávila, Nyjah Easton, Thaysa Ramos e Talita Treta são alguns nomes fortes. Após o ADCC 2013, mais uma constelação de astros deve aparecer. Por isso, garanta sua vaga.

Fique ligado em GRACIEMAG para saber tudo sobre o Mundial de Jiu-Jitsu Sem Kimono 2013.

The 2013 IBJJF New York Summer Open brought another group of black belts to the big apple in the second New York tournament by the IBJJF this year. Last April we saw a heavy showing of Gracie Barra black belts with Otavio Sousa earning double gold. This year the mix was rather spread out with only a couple black belts from the same team.

Vitor Henrique Oliveira of GFTeam placed third at the 2013 World Championship in the middleweight division losing to the champion, Otavio Sousa. Traveling to New York, he was able to take the place of Otavio and earn double gold as well, winning the middleweight division along the way. Vitor defeated Brian O’Leary of Gracie Humaita with a choke after scoring 20 points to win the semi-final. In the final he faced Daniel Tavares of SAS Team USA submitting him fairly quickly. Daniel defeated DJ Jackson on his way to the final with a three point lead.

In the open weight division, Vitor had two fights. He defeated Roger Ambrosi of Renzo Gracie with a spinning armbar from side control and defeated DJ Jackson in the final by points, 5-2.

The black belt male light-featherweight division had five competitors. Daniel Beleza of SAS Team, who placed third at the 2013 World Championship won the division. He defeated Mark Ramos with a loop choke then defeated Jose Gonzales Jr. of Nova Uniao by a two point lead. The featherweight division held three competitors so in a round robin situation, Raphael Fernandes of Renzo Gracie Team took the gold. He lost to Isac Chavez of Nova Uniao by points his first match, defeated his next match Ramon Flores-Luna by a two point lead and then was able to defeat Isac Chavez in the final. Lightweight gold went to Osvaldo Augusto Queixinho who flew from California. He defeated Fletcher Linton Jr. of Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu with a choke from side control and went on to defeat Renan Borges to win the gold. Middleweight was conquered by Vitor Henrique Oliveira and recapped above. Medium-heavy was won by Christopher Moriarty of Alliance Atlanta and super-heavyweight was won by Roger Ambrosi of Renzo Gracie.

The female black belt open weight division had four competitors. Featherweight Jen Petrina of Marcelo Garcia Academy defeated medium-heavyweight Karen Miller of Florian MMA by points 11-2. Featherweight Nyjah Easton of Team Lloyd Irvin defeated lightweight Bibiana Dos Tan Pacini of Brazilian Top Team with a transitioning armbar from triangle. In the final, Nyjah Easton defeated Jen Petrina with a quick mounted triangle-armbar.

For full results please click here.

Vitor Henrique Oliveira passes the guard of DJ Jackson in the black belt open weight division at the 2013 IBJJF New York Summer Open. Photo: Erin Herle

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Panôramica do ginásio do Pan em Irvine. Foto: Arquivo GracieMag

A cidade de Irvine, na Califórnia, se prepara para receber mais uma edição do tradicional Pan de Jiu-Jitsu, segundo campeonato mais importante do calendário da IBJJF. O ginásio da Universidade de Irvine vai receber os atletas do dia 20 ao 24 de março.

De olho na lista de inscritos, divulgada pela Federação, o GracieMag.com percebeu algumas surpresas, como o retorno do bicampeão mundial Gabriel Vella. Veja alguns dos principais favoritos:

Peso-galo: Bruno Malfacine, Caio Terra, Fabbio Passos, Raul Marcello, Joseph Capizzi, Felipe Costa

Peso-pluma: Guilherme Mendes, Laercio Fernandes, Thomas Lisboa, Gabriel Willcox

Peso-pena: Rubens Cobrinha, Rafael Mendes, Isaque Paiva, Augusto Tanquinho, Kim Terra, Ítalo Lins, Ed Ramos, Samir Chantre, Wellington Megaton, Mario Reis

Peso leve: Lucas Lepri, Michael Langhi, Oliver Geddes, Vinicius Marinho, JT, Tanner Rice, Zak Maxwell, Maiky Reiter, Marcel Gonçalves, Nathan Mendelsohn, Carlos Eduardo Vieira, Gabriel Goulart

Peso médio: Otavio Sousa, Leandro Lo, Kayron Gracie, DJ Jackson, Magid Hage, Clark Gracie, Jake Mackenzie, Lucas Rocha, Vitor Henrique, Gabriel Rollo, Ian McPherson

Peso meio-pesado: Romulo Barral, Tarsis Humphreys, André Galvão, Abmar Barbosa, Guto Campos, Rodrigo Fajardo, Felipe Preguiça, Renato Cardoso, Raul Castillo, Ben Baxter

Peso pesado: Tarcísio Jardim, Luiz Panza, Nivaldo Oliveira, Roberto Tussa, Hugo Britto, Diego Herzog, Lucas Leite, Diego Almeida

Peso superpesado: Bernardo Faria, Léo Nogueira, Gabriel Vella, James Puopolo

Peso Pesadíssimo: Marcus Buchecha, Alexander Trans, Orlando Sanchez, Roberto Cyborg, Gustavo Dias

Feminino: Luiza Monteiro, Mackenzie Dern, Ana Carolina Lebre, Nyjah Easton, Beatriz Mesquita, Talita Treta, Gabi Garcia, Thaysa Ramos, Sofia Amarante

Faixa-marrom: Keenan Cornelius, Gianni Grippo, Paulo e João Miyao, Vitor Paschoal, Francisco Iturralde, Ben Henderson, Victor Silvério, Ilke Bulut, Kaue Damasceno.

E para você, quem vai roubar a cena no Pan 2013? Confira quem está dentro, no site da IBJJF, aqui.

Pan Americans Irvine Venue / Photo by John Cooper

How will the Americans fair at the Pan American Championship this year? How about those who have undergone natural to serious changes within the past year or even the past months, weeks or days? From newly promoted black belts to half-promotions to switching of teams to a loss of training partners, we can only gather that this year will prove a lot.

Mackenzie Dern with her gold medal at the European Championship

Mackenzie Dern fights first year of Pans at black belt

December of 2012 marked the promotion to black belt for daughter of Wellington “Megaton” Dias. Mackenzie Dern has been a favorite in the competition scene for years as her level of dedication and talent has brought her to the top of the podium many times. As a nine-time world champion she has made her mark from juvenile to adult. Having won Pan Ams at both brown belt and purple belt, she is no stranger to this tournament. Her run at black belt so far includes wins over Luiza Monteiro at the Copa Podio and Nyjah Easton at the Europeans who will also be in her division at Pans.

Here is what Mackenzie has to say about her expectations for next week:

“What I think will be different now fighting as a black belt this year is the strategy of the fights. I know my adversaries now at black belt capitalize on mistakes. At the other belts, even though we try to make the least amount of mistakes as possible, when we did make mistakes sometimes you could still win the fight. Black is different. Any mistake, my opponents will take the best of it and it is a bad situation! I also think the pressure is a lot different now as a black belt. We will fight each other so many times throughout the years so I don’t feel the pressure I felt at the other belts! I just have to try my best to not make mistakes and stay one step ahead during the fight. What will be the same is my training and preparation. Of course, to fight against the best in the world you have to train extra hard, but every year I always try to prepare myself the best I can, not thinking about the adversary but about what I need to do to fight my best. Since blue belt and still at black belt I just keep the same preparation and get my self ready for whoever I could fight.

“This title is important to me because it will help me see how my trainings are going for the Worlds. Depending on how I do, I can change and fix the things I need to, to be able and do even better the next tournament. Just to win the Pan Ams at my first year at black belt would be a great feeling and I just hope that I can continue doing well this year!”

Gianni Grippo with new professor, Marcelo Garcia / Photo via Instagram

Gianni Grippo changes teams to Alliance

The first kid to ever train at the Renzo Gracie NYC academy, Gianni Grippo has officially left the team after ten years. The now-twenty-year-old started training Jiu-Jitsu when he was ten years old at the Manhattan academy, taking private lessons under blue belt Magno Gama four days a week. Since there was no kids program at the time, he spent his first three years this way, eventually working his way up the rankings and into the adult classes. By the age of sixteen he had developed into a serious threat, a far cry from his early mascot role he played. On Monday, March 11 Gianni announced his switch to team Alliance as he will now be training at the Marcelo Garcia Academy. He will now be present at the 2013 Pan American Championship fighting under the Alliance banner.

His statement regarding the move:

“I’ve been training at Renzo’s for ten years and since I was ten years old, so the decision to leave was definitely one of the hardest decisions I ever made in my life. But now I’m looking forward to the great opportunities I have at Marcelo’s and in the Alliance family, and I can’t wait to compete with my team at the upcoming Pans.”

Keenan Cornelius training at the Art of Jiu-Jitsu academy with Mendes bros and Miyao brothers before heading to Atos San Diego / Photo via Instagram

Keenan Cornelius gets accustomed to training at Atos

In the beginning of March, Keenan Cornelius made the decision along with other teammates to leave the team at Lloyd Irvin’s and move on. Due to situations that arose within the past months at the camp in Maryland, Keenan decided that the training environment was no longer suitable. On March 1, we broke the news about the switch to Atos along with Keenan’s statement. You can read it here.

At the 2013 IBJJF Boston Winter Open on March 3, only days after announcing he would be moving to Atos under Andre Galvao, Keenan accomplished another double gold. The difference this time was that he had no backing from a team, his Keiko gi had no Lloyd Irvin patches on it, he didn’t throw up the hand gesture that formed the letters “LI” after every win and for once in his Jiu-Jitsu stardom he looked more like a nobody. His matches were mostly quick as usual and despite the present turmoil, his stature remained composed. A day after the tournament he flew to L.A. where he made his way to the San Diego academy before stopping at the Art of Jiu-Jitsu academy in Costa Mesa where the Miyao brothers are currently training.

Will Keenan’s game change with a new set of training partners, new atmosphere and completely different routine? We will see.

Sean Roberts shortly after his brown belt promotion in September of 2010 / Photo via facebook

Sean Roberts set to compete as black belt but still a brown belt

This week Sean Roberts announced that he will be competing at the 2013 Pan Ams as a black belt — the only stipulation is that he still wear his brown belt because he has not been fully promoted. As his first tournament as a black belt, he will no longer be able to compete as a brown belt again thereafter. Knowing this, Ralph Gracie decided to allow him to compete as a black belt, giving him the option over the phone.

The story as told by Sean to GRACIEMAG.com:

“About three weeks before the Pan Americans I received a call from Ralph Gracie. We talked for a little bit and he asked me if I would like to fight the Pan Americans as a brown belt or a black belt. I immediately said black belt because the black belt division has the best fighters and I want to fight the best. After I told him that I would like to fight black belt he told me that I was to still wear my brown belt in the academy which I agreed to. I also told him, ‘if I fight the Pan Americans as a black belt then I can never fight as a brown belt again,’ and he replied, ‘I know.’ He had Eduardo Fraga, the head instructor from his school in Berkeley, sign the documents to declare me a black belt. So I’m a IBJJF black belt but a Ralph Gracie brown belt.

I’m still not quite sure why he is letting me fight as a black belt without promoting me to black belt first. It would have been very disappointing for him to promote me over the phone. I think he is waiting for an upcoming belt ceremony, but really I have no idea.”

Sean will be competing as a black belt but also as a middle weight instead of his usual lightweight.

UPDATE: Sean Roberts received his black belt today, March 12, from his professor Ralph Gracie. Congratulations!

Sean receives his black belt from Ralph Gracie / Photo via facebook

DJ Jackson defeated Gregor Gracie in Boston

DJ Jackson stays on team while others leave

Amidst the situations at Team Lloyd Irvin and the fleeing of team members, DJ Jackson remains with his original team in Camp Springs, Md. The black belt middleweight has kept his loyalty along with black belt Nyjah Easton and newly promoted brown belt Sijara Eubanks. The team has many members who are lesser known but still provide training for the leftover medal chasers. DJ will still be attending the 2013 Pan Ams as a representative of Team Lloyd Irvin as he did in Boston where he won double gold after beating Abmar Barbosa, Gregor Gracie, Rafael Formiga and others.

DJ tells GracieMag.com what his training is like since most of his partners left:

“I train mostly with a purple belt named Greg Howell, Nyjah, Sarj and the teenagers who are coming up. I still train the same routine, the only difference is there are some different people and less JT and Keenan.”

DJ is set for the black belt middleweight division at this year’s Pan Ams where he will have potential matches against names like Clark Gracie, Jake Mackenzie, Otavio Souza, Magid Hage and more.

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Beyond the changes in these Americans present at the Pans, you can make sure that you join in on the success. The changes these athletes have gone through may determine who wins some of the brown and black belt divisions but your division is important for your own legacy. Build it now by signing up TODAY. The deadline is fast approaching, tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Don’t miss registration! Go here to sign up now.

The 2013 Pan American Championship will be held at UC Irvine Brenn Event Center from March 20 to 24.

The location address is: 100 Bren event center Irvine, California 92617 USA

We hope to see you there!