Dillon on the back of an opponent. Photo: John “Ric” Ricard

The city of New York on Saturday, Sept. 27, was the place where Dillon Danis, student of Marcelo Garcia earned gold. The 20-year-old brown belt took gold in the middleweight and absolute divisions of the 2014 IBJJF Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship, closing with teammate Jonathan Satava. The Alliance team member won five fights in the tournament.

Most athletes prefer to rest after an exhausting tournament, but not Dillon. He made sure to train nine rounds of eight minutes with the black belt star Joao Miyao, also winner of the event. “His philosophy on Jiu-Jitsu looks like mine: always attack,” says the brown belt.

In conversation with GRACIEMAG, the athlete says his dream of becoming the next American world champion is on track, and talks about the importance of fighting the absolute. Learn from the beast:

GRACIEMAG: After your great performance at the no-gi Pan, are you already dreaming about the black belt?

DILLON DANIS: I look forward to getting my black belt because I can’t wait to test myself against the best fighters in the world. Since I was 15 years old, I dreamed about becoming the next American black belt world champion. However I’m not in a rush, I believe my professor Marcelo Garcia will aid me in reaching that goal whenever he feels I’m ready to make that transition to black belt.

One of your interesting matches was the absolute semifinal against Dainis Nguyen-Huu. Can you walk us through that one?

Prior to that match, I fought two ultra-heavyweights, so nonetheless I was relieved that he [Dainis] was also a middleweight. At the start of the match, I set the pace very high because I knew that it was essentially a finals match, since my teammate had already made it to the final. I was able to quickly secure a victory via one arm choke and secure another absolute title with my teammate Jon Satava.

Dillon training with Joao Miyao. Photo: Personal Archive

After the competition you trained with João Miyao. What did your learn training with him?

I enjoy training with Joao because he has a tenacious attitude and relentless pace that leads to a wide variety of attacks. His philosophy sinks up with mine of just trying your best to not stall or rest. I came away from the training session with a renewed sense to continue being aggressive regardless of the position and to keep moving forward.

Can you give our readers some valuable lesson you may have learned while conquering the no-gi Pan?

The most valuable takeaway from No-Gi Pan would be to always compete in the absolute, if possible. I always learn something new about myself as a competitor and person competing in the absolute division. It’s always great to test yourself potentially against someone twice your size and since you will compete with the best of best of the divisions you will make yourself a better fighter and martial artist.

But in between, the athletes battled it out with one another all while representing their team. There were many teams large and small present at the tournament but the trophies were only given to the top three.

Because this was a larger tournament, the team points were distributed among the adults, the masters and the females.

The adult male division team trophies went to these teams:

1 – Alliance Marcelo Garcia – 74
2 – Gracie Barra – 49
3 – Team Lloyd Irvin – 43

What brought in the most points were both black belt and brown belt stand-outs from each team.

For the females, Luiza Monteiro and Ana Lowry represented Cicero Costha and the PSLPB team all by themselves. Because they won both weight and absolute at both brown and black, it was enough to earn the first place. The second place was earned by the help of Maia Matalon who topped the podium of the purple belt open class division.

1 – PSLPB Cicero Costha – 36
2 – Fifty/50 Jiu-Jitsu – 18
3 – Bonsai JJ – Chicago – 18

For the master divisions, the team trophies were distributed as follows:

1 – Renzo Gracie – 138
2 – Alliance Marcelo Garcia – 97
3 – Gracie Barra – 74

The older athletes deserve their credit, too!

Check out the full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000305/en-US/Results.pdf

And check out this photo gallery of the lower belts:

GMA member Joao Faria of Gracie Del Mar will travel to Missouri for a seminar at GMA academy Gracie Humaita St. Louis on Nov. 3.

Professor Joao recently placed third in his division at the 2013 IBJJF Masters and Seniors Worlds. He also placed first at the 2013 Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship the weekend before in New York. And before that he won his MMA fight.

A proud instructor who focuses on helping his students as well as leading by example with an active presence in the competition scene, he has much knowledge to offer.

The seminar will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and open to all teams and affiliations.

The address is 1070 Weldon Springs Rd., Weldon Springs, MO.

The cost is $60. To reserve your spot call (636) 614-9498

Learn more about Joao Faria at www.graciedelmar.com and Gracie Humaita St. Louis at www.graciestlouis.com

The venue for the Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi. Photo: GRACIEMAG

In 2008, Vinicius ‘Draculino’ Magalhaes entered the Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship and won his division at the age of thirty-seven. The black belt leader is the coach of current champions such as Romulo Barral and Samuel Braga and continues to pass on his knowledge to students at his GMA academy Gracie Barra Texas in Houston.

That was the first year of the annual event. The 2013 edition of the event is set for Saturday, September 28 at its New York City location in the Nat Holman Gymnasium of the City College of New York.

Registration is open however the athlete list has now reached 60% capacity.

So, register now and make your travel arrangements to confirm your presence at the Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship before it’s too late.

Go to www.ibjjf.org to register now.