IBJJF Pan Championships Black Belt Live Updates - Day One & Absolute

Stay up to date with everything going on at the IBJJF Pans in Kissimmee, FL with these live updates.

Mar 23, 2024 by Joe Gilpin

IBJJF Pan Championships Black Belt Live Updates - Day One & Absolute

IBJJF Pans has kicked off in Kissimmee, FL and adult black belts take the mats today and tomorrow in one of the toughest gi tournaments of the year. Today, Saturday, will have all the absolute up until the finals and the weight classes up until the quarters (meaning top 8 advance to Sunday) for men and finals for women. Get up to date with all the action with these live updates. Newest updates will be put up at the top of the page.

WATCH PANS LIVE HERE

Day One Weight Class Updates

The tournament rolls on and Natan Chueng faces off with Carlos Henrique in an interesting lightweight matchup. Natan leads 2-0 but Carlos has a nice position with the rear body lock. He can't convert tho, only an advantage as they scramble out of bounds. One minute left. Henrique showing some great passing but can't get it there - Natan will win and advance in a really tough match.

Mica is up! He pulls and comes up immediately for the 2 and his opponent drops to the ankle. Mica counters to the crab ride and they roll out of bounds. They reset and when they engage again, Mica snaps into an over/under pass. His opponent, Alehander Mariano, pummels back to a lasso de la Riva where he nearly sweeps - but it is Galvao driving back up and Alehander escaping out of bounds and earning a penalty. It's 4-0 Mica on points with 4:19 left. They restart with a rear body lock in turtle, which isn't how they went out of bounds. Referee says go and Mica latches to the back. He is aggressively hunting the choke while Alehander defends. With 2:41 he breaks through and secures the choke victory.

Already a subscriber? Log In

Natan Chueng of Fratres is up now at lightweight, he's a perennial scrapper. With strong grips, he sweeps on top to open things up 2-0 - and using those grips he's going to work on passing. He isn't able to get anything going from top but does enough to advance on points.

Janaina is back on the mat for her semifinal. She sweeps to top and is up 2-0 against Suellen Souza from GFTeam. She passes and is up 5-0 with five minutes left. She mounts and again finishes things with a submission from top mount! Maia of AOJ into the finals. Speaking of AOJ advancing, Andy Murasaki advances at middleweight with a nasty armbar from mount.

Already a subscriber? Log In

Atos's Rolando Samson is on the mats now, he likes to put on a show. He's on top using toreando passing to try to get passed the guard. He does break through and even mounts, before throwing on a late mounted triangle. he gets the tap and advances. Diego Sodre matches his brother's earlier impressive finish with his own submission - this time a choke from the back.

A lot of good matches hitting at once. Marco Mendes and Kennedy Maciel are in a 2-2 match with 6:30 left, entangled in 50/50. Janaina Maia is also on the mat, this is her first action as an AOJ athlete - and she passes within the first minute. She mounts and secures the tap with what looked like a mounted ezekiel choke. Great performance from her. Carlos Henrique just won 10-8 in a match with a lot of back-and-forth sweeping. On mat 14, Kennedy is now up 4-2 but more importantly he is out of 50/50 and into a stack pass attempt. He transitions that to the back, and the finish. Kennedy is on a real heater.

Already a subscriber? Log In

Alex Sodre, while facing Edward Lucero, steps around the guard and directly into an armbar in a really impressive early round submission. Margot Ciccarelli, the 2 seed at feather, has no-showed the bracket.

Already a subscriber? Log In

Some of the women's semifinals are kicking off, including Brenda Larissa and Jessica Caroline Dantas in a scrap. Dantas up early 2-0 with an advantage. Brenda scores back that advantage with 3 minutes left, but still down on points. Brenda scores a second advantage, if she can score she will win. In the other semifinal at light-feather, Mayssa leads 6-2 with 3 minutes left. That's how it will end for both semifinals and we have a rematch from the Euros finals, where Dantas scores a big upset over Mayssa Bastos.

Pablo Lavaselli has a tough early matchup now with Michael Liera Jr on mat 11. Both men rack up 3 penalties in the first minute, meaning the next one is a DQ! Lavaselli working from top now, and Liera sweeps him after several minutes. Lavaselli able to get back on top, ninety seconds and he still leads. Liera scores again in the last minute, he will ride out for the upset over the 1-seed.

Bianca Basilio, the 1 seed at feather, has been disqualified for no show. At rooster, the 1-seed Jhenifer Aquino loses by points to Ana Caroline of AOJ, a big upset. It'll be her versus teammate Shelby Murphey in the finals.

Pedro Dias just scored a big upset of Zach Kaina, who also lost early at Euros after his big breakout IBJJF performances at No-Gi Worlds and the recent Grand Prix super fight. After giving up a late advantage to a loop choke attempt, Kaina wasn't able to make it up with passing or foot lock attempts of his own. It was a tight, tactical match throughout.

Already a subscriber? Log In

Malachi Edmond makes his return to IBJJF major action with this first round bout at light-feather. He's facing Kalel Nascimento who pulls early but it's Edmond able to use a deep lapel grip to force the turtle. Kalel wrestles up and they reset. Kalel messes up the next pull and gives up two to Malachi, now he's working from deep half guard where he eventually wrestles up. They go out of bounds so no sweep - but he gets the advantage. Malachi is able to control until the end of the match and wins 4-2.

Already a subscriber? Log In

Wow, Pato is already back out for his first match! The schedule here did him no favors. He is facing Pablo Mantovani and after some early exchanges Pablo leads by an advantage as he works from top position. 7 minutes left. They exchange sweeps again, it's now 6-6 but Pato is working for the worm guard grip. Instead he elects to come up and now leads on points. He may need to trust his top game to win this one. Now he is in Mantovani's closed guard. Pablo working on a high guard, potentially an omoplata. Pato pressures through to half guard, then weaves his legs out of the guard and into a leg drag. Pablo inverts back to guard but Pato gets his advantage. The fight ends there, close call for the champ.

ABSOLUTE UPDATES

In the last open class match today, Marcus Scooby takes on Pedro Alex in the semifinals. Scooby pulls and manages to knock Pedro over to mount and nearly take the back but it's out of bounds - so only 3 advantages from the exchange. Pedro decides to pull closed guard to work from, but Marcus pressures it open and passes to mount. He's now up 7-0 but gets rolled to bottom. They end up reset on the feet and Pedro takes down Scooby with a big lift and mat return, he scores but they end up standing again and Scooby pulls to closed guard. It'll be Marcus advancing to fight Gutemberg in tomorrow's finals.

Gutemberg back out for his semifinal, this time against Gui Soares. Ninety seconds in he pulls, and they need to stop for medical intervention, not sure why. They are starting again in Gutemberg's closed guard. He transitions to the single leg X. Finally he manages the sweep against the heavy Soares. NOw that he is on top, he knee weaves right to the mount, scores his points, and is reversed to closed guard. Soares stands, and it's right to 50/50 for Pereira. Time expires, Gutemberg wins 9-0!

Gabi Pessanha is back out for her absolute semifinal against Elizabeth Mitrovic. She pulls to open guard and sweeps her way to top position. Soon after, she's able to secure the pass. Mitrovic doing enough from bottom side control to survive for now, 5 minutes remain. Mitrovic reguards with an inversion but Pessanha passes again with a leg drag. She's fishing for the lapel choke. She mounts, then rear mount, scoring points in bunches. 16-0 and she drops back for the choke but Mitrovic survived. Very tough from her. That won't stop Gabi from being Gabi tho - she pours on more points, eventually winning 23-0 over a world class black belt. 116 match win streak, 11 straight IBJJF majors in the open class finals.

Already a subscriber? Log In

Gutemberg Pereira is now out to face Andy Murasaki in an absolute quarterfinal. Hard to know how this one will look. Andy pulls and Gutemberg is able to break grips well to keep his passing work going. He nearly takes the back but Andy does a good job denying the second hook and reguarding. Still, Pereira leads by 2 advantages halfway through. He nearly passes again to score a third advantage. Murasaki is able to get to 50/50 to slow down Gutemberg, then single leg X. He has 2 minutes to score if he wants to win, and he nearly does when he wrestles up - but Berg is too big & strong and the sprawl shuts him down. Andy works back to guard, then wrestles up again but they go out of bounds. Gutemberg will win and advance to the semifinals.

In our first absolute semifinal, Izadora Silva takes on Vannessa Griffin. Silva wrestles up from open guard to score in the first two minutes. Silva is now in Griffin's closed guard, but both aren't making much happen. 3 minutes left. Silva breaks open the guard and has strong position in HQ. Griffin unable to move her from there and Izadora will advance to the final.

On mat 11, Marcus Scooby is about to take on Diego Pato in a David/Goliath battle. Scooby shoots from far out and times Pato's pull perfectly to score the 2 points. Very important early exchange for him. Scooby working hard on top with knee slides and weave passes trying to pass while Pato works on retaining and finding lapels or k guard. Pato finds the closed guard but Scooby smashes through with the Sao Paolo pass to half guard. He's using his size very well on top, passes the guard, and gets the pressure tap! Incredible performance from Marcus Scooby, he had the advantage of size but still worked aggressively for the win.

Already a subscriber? Log In

Gabi Pessanha has taken the mat for the women's absolute, facing Larissa Martins. Her opponent pulls, Gabi passes, take the back, and secures the choke. 115 wins in a row, and counting. She faces Mitrovic next.

Gutemberg, one of the favorites for the absolute is now out. Within the first minute he is up 3-0 using a knee slide pass. His opponent reguards but it's another strong knee slide and knee on belly for Gutemberg to go up 8-0 within the first 3 minutes. Another reguard, another pass, 11-0, and this is Gutemberg looking really good. He sets up the triangle from side control, falls to guard, and finishes in a little over 5 minutes.

Already a subscriber? Log In

In the women's divisions, Elizabeth Mitrovic scores a nice comeback against Maria Barboza using a late sweep, pass, and mount to rack up points after trailing most of the match. She will have Pessanha next.

Andy Murasaki, only a middleweight, is out for his first absolute match, taking on Jackson Sousa. Murasaki pulls and uses the De La Riva to scramble to the crab ride and then wrestle up for 2. They reset but Andy sweeps again, then passes to go up 9-0. He's aggressive hunting for the choke from side control but can't get it, points win for Murasaki.

Absolute matches are starting up on mats 9-14. The first big name out on the mats is the light-feather World Champion Diego Pato, taking on the much larger Felipe Figueiredo. He pulls to closed guard and is working with the lapel grip for a squid guard. He eventually uses a spider hook on the far side to invert onto a leg and pull himself to 50/50. Felipe breaks the position and Pato is right back on the squid guard. The buzzer sounds, it's a 0-0 tie but Pato controlled the fight from guard and will advance.