The IBJJF has just released the first wave of information about ‘The Crown’ and that includes the date, location and divisions available for competitors at the tournament. The event will be the first of it’s kind, and it will feature six divisions of elite grapplers each competing for their own grand prize on November 19th, 2023. It appears as though the promotion is following a similar format to their IBJJF Grand Prix events, but there will be multiple brackets available instead of either one or two as normal.
In order to take the huge number of IBJJF weight classes available and condense them into four men’s weight classes and two women’s ones, the promotion has announced that several divisions will be combined for the event. Male competitors will have the options of competing at under 70kg, under 82.3kg, under 94.3kg, and over 94.3kg while female competitors will have to choose between either under or over 64kg. The most attractive part of the tournament for prospective competitors is undoubtedly the prize money though, as the promotion is awarding each of the divisional winners $15,000 and is giving out $120,000 of total prize money.
The IBJJF has already confirmed that they plan for The Crown to be an annual event hosted on location at The Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California, and they’re intending on expanding the divisions moving forward too. The 2023 event will see four competitors invited in each weight class, while they intend on inviting eight competitors to their 2024 event while also offering a bigger cash prize too. There’s no news yet on who has earned themselves an invite but if the regular IBJJF Grand Prix events are anything to go by, The Crown will most likely have stacked divisions with several IBJJF World Championship winners competing.
The IBJJF announced the date, location, and divisions available for competitors who are entering The Crown in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
