By Michael Sears

The purple belt divisions wrapped up on Friday in Long Beach at the IBJJF World Championships. Plenty of high-level jiu-jitsu was on display as the future stars of the sport fought it out in the famous Pyramid. 

Pessanha wins DOUBLE grand slam

Gabrieli Pessanha of Infight BJJ completed the epic double Grand Slam, winning her weight and the open class at Worlds, Pans, Europeans and the Brasileiro, making her the only person to do so all year. The 17-year-old Rio de Janeiro native absolutely dominated the women’s purple belt ranks in 2018. Gabrieli won three matches in her weight and another three in the open. 

“It’s means a lot, since I started competing I never wanted to be just someone else, I wanted to be different, I wanted to be the best,” she said. “I didn’t want to go to a tournament just to compete, I wanted to win, to do my best, and thanks God everything worked out.” 

Jimenez steamrolls the field for massive double gold

On the men’s side, the big story was the dominant performance put in by Roberto Jimenez of Alliance. Yet to win a major tournament in his first year at purple, Jimenez submitted all ten of his opponents on the way to double gold. 

In the heavyweight division Jimenez submitted six opponents, including no.1-ranked pound-for-pound purple belt Conner Deangelis. Next up Jimenez would submit all four opponents in the open, finishing ultra-heavyweight champ Mason Fowler in the final by a choke from the back.

Unknown Nagai takes lightweight by storm 

AOJ prodigy and 2018 Pan champ Johnatha Alves looked like a sure thing at lightweight until he ran into Samuel Nagai in the final. Nagai had earlier turned heads when he defeated no.9-ranked purple belt Guthierry Barbosa and Italo Moura (passing both their guards) to make the final. 

Nagai was all over Alves, winning by a score of 11-4 and became an IBJJF World champion after defeating two top-ten purple belts in the same day. Nagai just turned 18 on the May 26 and established himself today as one of the top prospects in the sport. 

Tanabe emerges top MHW

The medium-heavyweight bracket was easily the deepest of all the purple belt divisions, with four ranked purple belts along with 2017 Worlds runner-up Andrew Wiltse, among others. In the end it was no.15-ranked Igor Tanabe who came out on top, defeating Adam Bradley in the final. 

For an example of how deep this bracket was, Tanabe defeated Euro champ Reda Mebtouche in the quarterfinal, after Reda had previously defeated Wiltse and Pete O’Neal in the first couple of rounds.

Cicero lightweights win gold and get promoted

The Cicero Costha team dominated the roosterweight division, taking gold, silver and bronze in the bracket. After Jonas Andrade and Johnif Rocha closed out the semi of their side, Thalison Soares would take care of business on his side to seal the closeout. Cicero would promote Andrade and Soares to brown belt after the tournament.

Other Results 

• Euro champ Mason Fowler again took gold in the ultra-heavyweight division, submitting four out of five opponents. Fowler also defeated middleweight champ Ronaldo Junior in the open class semifinals. 
• Cicero Costha competitor Andre Porfirio won his super-heavyweight final by a no-arm triangle. 
• Margaret Grindatti won four matches to take gold in female medium-heavy. 
• No.4-ranked Ronaldo Junior defeated two Alliance athletes in the semi and final, avenging a Pans loss to seventh-ranked Lucas Guaberto in the semi. 
• Kira Sung defeated Sabrina Wright to win the female middleweight division 
• Lucas Rodrigues and Mathias Luna both ran gauntlets to win incredibly stacked brackets at male light-feather and feather.

Click here to watch videos from IBJJF 2018 Worlds