The IBJJF Pan Championship 2023 took place from March 22nd to 26th, 2023 and attracted some of the best grapplers on the planet to fight for the results they wanted. A new generation of champions was crowned and one man and woman stood out the most, as they both put on flawless performances and took home two gold medals each. The main storyline came in the men’s divisions, where Nicholas Meregali was making his return to gi competition after transitioning to no gi for ADCC 2022. He stormed to victory in both the ultra-heavyweight division and the absolute division, beating out the super-heavyweight champion Erich Munis by a significant 11 point margin in the final.
While there was a lot of competition in the men’s absolute division, the women’s was only ever going to be won by one woman. Shortly after defeating two women to win the super-heavyweight division, Gabrieli Pessanha won another three matches to win gold in the absolute as well. There were other major storylines that emerged from the results of the IBJJF Pan Championship 2023 as well, including Tainan Dalpra continuing his reign of dominance over the middleweight division.
Not every division had a predictable winner of course, and perhaps the biggest upset of the black belt divisions came at Roosterweight. Some major players went out in the early rounds and Zayed Alkatheeri made waves by defeating Thalison Soares and Jonas Andrade to win his first IBJJF major, simultaneously becoming the first UAE athlete to win an IBJJF major at adult black belt. There was plenty of excitement throughout each and every division, including tons of action in the coloured belt divisions earlier in the week. A lot of eyes were on Cole Abate as he won the brown belt lightweight division in his first appearance at an IBJJF major at that level.
IBJJF Pan Championship 2023 Full Results
Men’s Divisions
Roosterweight
1 – Zayed Alkatheeri
2 – Hiryu Niwa
3 – Jonas Andrade
3 – Frank Cespedes
Light-Featherweight
1 – Diogo Reis
2 – Diego ‘Pato’ Oliveira
3 – Yuta Shimada
3 – Zachary Kaina-Kokobun
Featherweight
1 – Marcio Andre
2 – Fabricio Andrey
3 – Alex Sodre
3 – Diego Sodre
Lightweight
1 – Johnatha Alves
2 – Pablo Lavaselli
3 – Alef Brito
3 – Natan Chueng
Middleweight
1 – Tainan Dalpra
2 – Pedro Maia
3 – Eduardo Avelar Carvalho
3 – Rolando Samson
Medium-Heavyweight
1 – Gustavo Batista
2 – Jansen Gomes
3 – Francisco Lo
3 – Ronaldo Junior
Heavyweight
1 – Adam Wardzinski
2 – Fellipe Andrew
3 – Dimitrius Souza
3 – Lucas Lopes
Super-Heavyweight
1 – Erich Munis
2 – Cassio Sousa
3 – Davi Cabral
3 – Paulo Henrique
Ultra-Heavyweight
1 – Nicholas Meregali
2 – Yatan Bueno
3 – Guilherme Augusto
3 – Roosevelt Sousa
Absolute Division
1 – Nicholas Meregali
2 – Erich Munis
3 – Dimitrius Souza
3 – Guilherme Augusto
Women’s Divisions
Roosterweight
1 – Jessica Dantas
2 – Jhenifer Aquino
3 – Brenda Larissa
3 – Maria Tozoni
Light-Featherweight
1 – Mayssa Bastos
2 – Rose El Sharouni
3 – Amanda ‘Tubby’ Alequin
3 – Thamires Aquino
Featherweight
1 – Ana Rodrigues
2 – Margot Ciccarelli
3 – Larissa Campos
3 – Sophia Dalpra
Lightweight
1 – Luiza Monteiro
2 – Ffion Davies
3 – Janaina Lebre
3 – Janine Mutton
Middleweight
1 – Elisabeth Clay
2 – Thalyta Silva
3 – Thamara Ferreira
3 – Vanessa Griffin
Medium-Heavyweight
1 – Ana Vieira
2 – Amy Campo
3 – Aurelie Le Vern
3 – Izadora Cristina
Heavyweight
1 – Larissa Dias
2 – Ingridd Alves
3 – Amanda Magda
3 – Tamiris Silva
Super-Heavyweight
1 – Gabrieli Pessanha
2 – Mayara Monteiro
3 – Lama Qubbaj
Absolute Division
1 – Gabrieli Pessanha
2 – Ana Vieira
3 – Maria Malyjasiak
3 – Tamiris Silva
The full results for every belt and age division outside of adult black belt at the IBJJF Pan Championship 2023 can be found here.
