The IBJJF Pan Championship 2024 took place from March 20th to 24th, 2024. The results showed that the latest generation of elite athletes once again captured the spotlight. There was plenty of action in the championship divisions, with MMA legend Demetrious Johnson delivering an incredible performance in the brown belt category.

The only double medalist at the tournament was a female fighter, namely the Brazilian Gabrieli Pessanha, who won the Pan super-heavyweight division for the third time in a row and the women's absolute division for the second time in a row.

Kennedy Maciel and Fabricio Andrey made it to the finals in the featherweight division, where both showed excellent physical, mental and technical form. Their participation in this prestigious tournament showed that they are not only excellent wrestlers in No-Gi (both won the ADCC Trials - South America this year), but also in Gi. In the final, Maciel won on advantages.

The middleweight category became the scene of exciting fights. Micael Galvao and Andy Murasaki put on dominant performances throughout the tournament. Both confirmed their status as favorites in this weight category and met in the final, where Mica Galvao won by armbar.

In the medium-heavy category, we could see the final between Ferreira and Rodrigues, which was very even. Ferreira performed a beautiful uchi-mata at the end of the match, forcing Rodrigues to take a risk in the last minute. As soon as Rodrigues revealed himself, Anderson took his back and was immediately ready to finish off his opponent.

In the absolute category, Gutemberg Pereira was unstoppable. His patience and dominating performances led him to win his second consecutive title in this category at a major IBJJF tournament.

2024 IBJJF PAN WINNERS

MEN

57KG: Thalison Soares (AOJ / Brazil)

64KG: Diego “Pato” (AOJ / Brazil)

70KG: Kennedy Maciel (Alliance / Brazil)

76KG: Jackson Nagai (Checkmat / Brazil)

82KG: Micael Galvao (Escola Melqui Galvao / Brazil)

88KG: Uanderson Ferreira (Commando Group / Brazil)

94KG: Fellipe Andrew (Alliance / Brazil)

100KG: Anderson Munis (Fratres / Brazil)

+100KG: Yatan Bueno (Fratres / Brazil)

Absolute: Gutemberg Pereira (AOJ / Brazil)

WOMEN

49KG: Shelby Murphey (AOJ/USA)

53KG: Mayssa Bastos (AOJ / Brazil)

58KG: Larissa Campos (AOJ/Brazil)

64KG: Janaina Lebre (AOJ/ Brazil)

69KG: Thalyta Silva (Fratres / Brazil)

74KG: Ingridd Alves (DreamArt / Brazil)

79KG: Isadora Silva (DreamArt / Brazil)

+79KG: Gabrieli Pessanha (InFight/Brazil)

Absolute: Gabrieli Pessanha (InFight/Brazil)

The huge interest is that the wrestlers from Brazil dominated all the black belt divisions in the adult divisions, except for one, the women's lightest rooster division.

Another interesting thing about the recent tournament is the fact that 81% of the quarter-finalists came from Brazil. This data not only underlines the enormous power of Brazilian jiu jitsu, but also its still high quality. Notably, there were even more quarterfinalists from the Brazilian city of Manaus than from the entire United States, demonstrating the dominance of Brazilian fighters in the sport.

Here you can also see a comparison with the recent IBJJF Europeans, which were once again dominated by Brazil.

MMA legend Demetrious Johnson also performed at the tournament. Johnson recently decided to switch to training in a Gi, which he has come to love. He made his competitive debut at the 2023 IBJJF Master World Championships. He competed in the featherweight division at Master 2 as a brown belt and was virtually flawless on the mats. He won every match and left the tournament with a gold medal.

Demetrious Johnson fighted in the same division as last time and dominated that division again. He then finished in 2nd place in the absolute division. You can see below how he fighted with a much tougher opponent and did more than well.

The Czech colours also shone on the podium at the tournament. In the middle category in Master 4 in purple belts shone the representative of DSC Gym Česká Třebová Michal Vebr, who then won the absolute category.

Eldar Rafigaev, a Moldovan living in the Czech Republic for a long time, also did well, finishing third in the black belts in Master 2. Both in his weight category and in the absolute.