BJJ Stars 11 is scheduled for September 9th, 2023 and the promotion has just confirmed the entire lineup for both the tournament and 6 accompanying superfights. Each of the superfights will feature some of the most exciting grapplers on the planet, while the women’s heavyweight grand prix has attracted 8 of the best female competitors in the sport. It’s not surprising that so many top BJJ black belts have entered the division though, as BJJ stars have offered a grand prize 100,000 Brazilian Real (just over $20,000 USD) for the winner.
One of the early favorites to win the tournament will undoubtedly be Gabrieli Pessanha, who has been almost unstoppable since being promoted to black belt and hasn’t lost a single match since 2021. Interestingly, Pessanha has only lost to three women in her entire black belt career and two of them have entered the lineup for BJJ Stars 11. Yara Soares has had an incredible number of matches with Pessanha and although Pessanha usually wins, Soares has managed to defeat her on 4 occasions too. Tayane Porfirio has had significantly less opportunity to compete against Pessanha but she’s also managed to win 1 of their 3 matches and is definitely capable of causing an upset here.
Melissa Stricker Cueto and Tamiris Silva are also competing at the event and although they will have an uphill battle, they’re both capable of taking out one of the favorites. The rest of the bracket is rounded out by Welma Moreira, Carina Santi, and Mikaela Barros. There are also 6 superfights that will take place both before and in between tournament matches featuring the likes of 66kg ADCC world champion Diogo Reis and the reigning middleweight IBJJF world champion Jansen Gomes.
BJJ Stars 11 Women’s Heavyweight Grand Prix Lineup
Gabrieli Pessanha
Tayane Porfirio
Melissa Stricker Cueto
Welma Moreira
Yara Soares
Tamiris Silva
Carina Santi
Mikaela Barros
Superfights
Jansen Gomes v Gustavo Batista
Andy Murasaki v Uanderson Ferreira
Matheus Spirandeli v Isaque Bahiense
Piter Frank v Caio Almeida
The full lineup for BJJ stars 11, including both the women’s heavyweight grand prix and 6 superfights, was announced in a recent post to the promotion’s official Instagram account:
