The IBJJF has announced a change to their upcoming Grand Prix bracket, as João Gabriel Rocha has had to withdraw from the event. In his place, American brown belt World Champion Steffen Banta will take his shot at the $40,000 grand prize in the 8-man tournament. The Grand Prix will take place September 1st alongside the IBJJF's Jiu-Jitsu Con, which also features the Masters World Championships.

Steffen is the 2022 IBJJF World Champion at brown belt super-heavyweight. After building up momentum in 2022, Banta has been out for a period of time with an injury - and returns into the deep end of the pool with one of the toughest brackets possible. He could stamp himself as one of the best young black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu with a run here.

The Grand Prix will be an 8-man tournament featuring some of the sport's most successful competitors, including the last two black belt absolute World Champions. Currently the athletes in the Grand Prix are;

• Victor Hugo
• Nicholas Meregali
• Fellipe Andrew
• Gutemberg Pereira
• Horlando Monteiro
• Francisco Lo
• Paulo Merlin
• Steffen Banta

The event will also feature a slate of super-fights, including some first-time matchups between debuting and elite black belts. The matchups are slated to be:

• Tainan Dalpra vs Yan Pica-Pau
• Janaina Lebre vs Emily Fernandez
• Sebastian Rodriguez vs Ronaldo Junior
• Cole Abate vs Eduardo Grazotto
• Johnatha Alves vs Jackson Nagai

All of the action will be streaming live exclusively on FloGrappling, Sept. 1 from Las Vegas, NV.