The IBJJF has brought back The Crown for the second edition in 2024 and this time they’re increasing the number of competitors in the tournament dramatically. The first edition of the tournament was a massive success, with six different brackets of four grapplers and plenty of action on the mats in each division. Although the IBJJF is going to stick with just six weight classes, four for men and two for women, they are increasing the number of grapplers in each bracket. Instead of starting with four grapplers in the semi-finals, each division will now have eight competing in an additional opening round before that.
This means that a total 48 men and women will be battling it out for just 6 titles, and each champion will have to beat 3 opponents in the same day in order to claim their crown. The IBJJF has not yet announced the full list of competitors for The Crown in 2024, but they have revealed that they did plan on inviting back the reigning champions from last year. Both Tainan Dalpra and Gabrieli Pessanha have already confirmed that they will be taking up the offer to defend the titles they won in the men’s middleweight division and the women’s super-heavyweight division respectively.
There are four other champions who may well be returning to defend their titles, but one of them in particular does not seem likely. Fellipe Andrew won the heavyweight division last year and although he would be one of the favorites to do so again, he’s also currently suspended from IBJJF competition for a failed PEDs test. Although The Crown is technically a separate organization, it’s unlikely that the promotion is willing to overlook that suspension to invite him. That just leaves Erich Munis and Samuel Nagai as the defending men’s ultra-heavyweight and featherweight champions, and the remaining female champion is Luiza Monteiro at lightweight.
The full second edition of IBJJF: The Crown, including all 48 competitors, will be broadcast live on November 17th, 2024 on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch. The promotion announced the news in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
