The IBJJF grand slam series of events refers to– in order, as they happen thorough the year– the European Championships, the Pan Championships, the Brazilian National Championships and the World Championships. 

To even compete in all four of these events is a grueling endeavor. Euros takes place in Lisbon in January, just a few short weeks after the holiday break. Pans goes down in March in Irvine, California and draws much of the best talent of that jiu-jitsu-rich region. Brazilian Nationals usually happens at the end of April / beginning of May in Sao Paulo, Brazil and features some of the biggest divisions of any tournament thanks to the massive number of local practitioners. Held in Long Beach, California, Worlds comes around at the end of May / beginning of June just four short weeks after the Brazilian Nationals. 

Every year a select few athletes will try to complete what is know as the IBJJF grand slam: to win a gold medal in every one of the big four tournaments of the year. 

In 2017 two people did it; Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles (who tagged on another epic win by becoming ADCC champion, too) and Tayane Porfirio, who won the rare "double grand slam", meaning she won her weight division and the absolute at all four of the majors. 

A handful of athletes competed at all four of the 2018 IBJJF grand slam events. Here's who won and some context behind each. 

Thalison Soares

Purple Belt 

Roostereight Soares is often jokingly referred to as "Little Miyao", although he's no relation to the famous twins, nor is he even part-Japanese! The young Brazilian, who hails from the jiu-jitsu hotbed of Manaus and now trains at Murilo Santana's Unity in NYC, bears a striking resemblance to the Miyaos due to his berimbolo-heavy game and insanely-good guard.

Soares made it into the final at each of the four grand slam events, although he closed out two with teammates and was registered as second place on the official results. 

Claudia do Val 

Black Belt

Trained from wide to black belt under Ricardo de la Riva in Rio de Janeiro, the 2017 World champ took a gold medal in every major event this year, although with some caveats. 

Over the course of the four events Val won gold medals in three different weight classes, switching from medium-heavy for Euros, to super-heavy for Pans, to heavy for Brazilian Nationals, and back to medium-heavy for Worlds. Also, in two of those events (Euros and Pans) she was the winner in a division of only two entrants, meaning she only had one fight to win gold. 

Lucas Barbosa 

Black Belt 

Atos representative Lucas "Hulk" Barbosa fought his way into the two absolute finals in addition to two medium-heavy finals. Even though he put in the work to get there, Hulk was awarded gold each time without actually having to fight a match. 

At Europeans Barbosa closed out with teammate Keenan Cornelius in the absolute final. At Brazilian Nationals, Barbosa should have faced Victor Honorio in the absolute final but the match was scrapped when Honorio suffered food poisoning the night after the semifinals had taken place. 

At Pans and Worlds Barbosa closed out with another teammate, this time Gustavo "Braguinha" Batista, sharing the honors of winning the medium-heavyweight division. Hulk was officially registered gold medalist both times, making him a grand slam winner. 

Gabrieli Pessanha

Purple Belt 

Presently, Pessanha is little known but mark our words when we say she will be a future star. Coming from the relatively small team Infight, which has an presence in places such as Brazil, Europe and Japan but is far less powerful than the big names such as Atos or Alliance, Pessanha trains out of a small facility in the infamous favela Cidade de Deus in Rio de Janeiro, otherwise known as the "City of God". 

At only 17 years of age Pessanha conquered the double grand slam in 2018 by soundly winning the super-heavyweight division and the absolute in every tournament she entered. Her unbeaten run saw her submit the majority of her opponents, always cheered on by a vocal contingent of teammates. 

This is Pessanha's first year competing as a purple belt, and her first in the adult divisions. In 2017 as a juvenile 2 blue belt she narrowly missed out on the double grand slam, only missing out on double gold because she did not compete at Pans. 

With such a high rate of success at such an early age, Pessanha could very well go on to become a high level black belt in just a few short years. Remember her name now.