Stars from the jiu-jitsu community gathered in Irvine, California for the IBJJF end of season Awards and Hall of Fame induction. The top ranked athletes from the 2015-2016 season were honored with cash prizes, with Mackenzie Dern in attendance to accept her check for the $15,000 prize. 

The top-ranked teams were also honored, with Alliance taking the number one spot for both team rankings in IBJJF International Open tournaments, and also the top spot in the ‘Grand Slam’ series of competitions (that includes the most prestigious tournaments such as the World championships, Pans, Europeans and more). 

Four figures were inducted into the IBJJF Hall of Fame, two posthumously. The Hall of Fame inductees were: 

• Carlson Gracie 
  
• Carlos Gracie Jr 
  
• Romero ‘Jacare’ Cavalcanti 
  
• Rolls Gracie 

GF Team founder Julio Cesar Pereira was also awarded his 7th degree red and black certificate, marking his rise to the rank of 'master'. 

The top-ranked athletes for the 2015-2016 season were as follows: 

	Male Black Belts	Female Black Belts
1	Paulo Miyao	Mackenzie Dern
2	Joao Miyao	Andresa Correa
3	Bernardo Faria	Beatriz Mesquita
4	Leandro Lo	Luiza Monteiro
5	Erberth Santos	Dominyka Obelenyte
6	Caio Terra	Leanna Dittrich
7	Renato Cardoso	Sarah Black
8	Andre Galvao	Talita Nogueira
9	Vitor Oliveira	Michelle Nicolini
10	Marcus Almeida	Fernanda Mazzelli

The top-ranked teams were: 
1. Alliance 
2. Gracie Barra 
3. Nova Uniao 
4. Checkmat 
5. Atos Jiu-Jitsu & Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu (joint fifth place) 
7. Impacto Japan BJJ 
8. GF Team 
9. PSLPB Cicero Costha 
10. Gracie Humaita 

Watch the full event replay 

Scroll down for a gallery of the event

Carlos Gracie Jr addressing the attendees with his keynote opening speech

Julio Cesar Pereira of GF Team 

Fabio Gurgel and Alexandre Paiva of Alliance accept the awards for top-ranked team 

The top ranked female black belt competitors of the 2015-2016 season 

Rodrigo Medeiros accepts the Hall of Fame in memoriam award for Carlson Gracie 

Romero 'Jacare' Cavalcanti, inducted into the IBJJF Hall of Fame

Carlos Gracie Jr and Romero Cavalcanti, original students of Rolls Gracie, accept his Hall of Fame induction trophy