With some many great stories coming out of the black belt divisions from the 2019 IBJJF Pans, it is worth reminding ourselves that brown belts were equally compelling. 

The brown belts of today are future black belt world champions, and below we’ve highlighted some of the standout performances from Pans to give you a better idea of the next generation on the horizon. 

Victor Hugo (Ribeiro JJ) has brought home four gold medals from the first two major IBJJF tournaments in 2019 after taking double gold both Pans and Europeans and he looked dominant while finishing three of his six opponents at Pans. Up next is the Brasileiro in Sao Paulo, as Victor aims to take double gold at all four IBJJF Grand Slam tournaments in 2019. 

“So far this year has been going as great and as I planned and worked for. This year I have the goal to achieve the double grand slam and be the best brown belt of all time,” he says. 

Gabrieli Pessanha (Infight) picked up where she left off as a purple belt in 2018 and tapped her way through both her weight class and the open division. In the open class she was victorious over medium-heavyweight champ Vedha Toscano (Checkmat) in the final. The 18-year-old already has wins over the elite in the black belt division and looks untouchable as long as she is still a brown belt. 

“Every championship is a learning experience, that was my thought before the fights, I knew that winning or losing I would learn something. I was happy that I was doing what I love, which is fighting, and thank god everything worked out,” she told us. 

Thalison Soares

The Cicero Costha team has dominated the rooster and light-feather weights at blue and purple over the last couple of years and carried that success over to the brown belt division this year. Johnif Rocha and Thalison Soares closed out the roosterweight division, and their teammate Diego Oliveira came out on top at light-featherweight. Both Soares and Oliveira also won Europeans earlier this year.

Thalison said to us that, “My dream is to write one of the most successful stories in jiu-jitsu, and Pans 2019 was another step towards getting it done. I’ve been working for moments like this for ten years.”

Ronaldo Junior (Atos) did not concede a single point in his division and dominated all four matches on the way to the top of the podium. Ronaldo submitted three of those opponents, with a 15-0 victory being the only win that was not by submission. 

“It was an awesome experience, competing against the greatest fighters in the world and being able to win. Nobody scored points on me in my division, I am improving a lot, trying to be the greatest fighter at black belt and I’m on my way to the top.”

• AOJ prodigy Johnatha Alves (Atos) made it look easy in the lightweight division. Alves did the same thing against all five opponents, a berimbolo to the back followed by a collar choke (see above).
• Guthierry Barbosa (Carlson Gracie) fought through a stacked middleweight division. Barbosa won five fights including overcoming Angelo Claiborne (Team Lloyd Irvin) in the final.
• At female featherweight, Ana Rodrigues (Alliance) won her third straight championship at Pans. Ana put on an impressive display of passing to win both of her matches decisively. 
• Julia Boscher (Soul Fighters) was the champion of the middleweight division and is now a two-time Pan champion. Boscher won three matches in her division, and defeated 2019 European open class champ Thamara Ferreira (Cicero Costha) in the final.