The IBJJF have booked their premier event, The Crown 2024, for November 17th, 2024 and we’ve put together a full preview of all six divisions of it. Their debut event took place just last year and it was a resounding success, with several exciting matches on the way to 6 champions being crowned. Some of those champions are returning to defend their titles against even bigger brackets of 7 other elite competitors and some are absent this time around. Every winner will have to beat 3 of the best grapplers in the world in order to claim their title and there’s guaranteed to be some thrilling moments along the way.
Before reading our preview, click here to see the full competitor list for IBJJF: The Crown 2024.
IBJJF: The Crown 2024 Full Preview
Men’s Divisions
Featherweight
Favorites: There’s no reigning champion at featherweight and Diego ‘Pato’ Oliveira is the only one who even competed here last year. He’s a little smaller than the rest as he is normally at light-featherweight, where he won the IBJJF World Championship earlier this year. Oliveira is probably the top contender in this division regardless of his size, but there’s several tough matchups. Kennedy Maciel is the other top contender, as he was on his way to an IBJJF Grand Slam this year until he fell just short at the final hurdle.
Dark Horse: Eduardo Granzotto was a top juvenile and colored belt competitor but his first year at black belt has seen some mixed results. If he’s been able to settle in to the highest level of the sport then he could go far in this bracket, but it might be a little too early.
Middleweight
Favorites: The middleweight division is one of the easiest to predict in this preview of IBJJF: The Crown 2024, even though the reigning champion hasn’t been as unstoppable as they were back then. Tainan Dalpra is returning to defend his title and he’s even got something more to prove after two years without an IBJJF World Championship. The silver medalist from last year was Andy Murasaki and he’s coming off another silver medal at worlds this year, so he stands out as the main opposition that Dalpra will face.
Dark Horse: Gabriel Galvao has had flashes of brilliance this year and he could find some success here depending on how the bracket pans out. Being drawn against Dalpra or Murasaki in the opening round would be a huge ask, but if he can build up momentum against other competitors first then he could surprise one or even both of them.
Heavyweight
Favorites: There’s no reigning champion here but Adam Wardzinski is coming off his first world title and he’s a serious threat in this division. His mastery of the butterfly guard is going to present some problems for most of the men he could end up facing. Gustavo Batista is the reigning world champion in the medium-heavyweight division and although he might normally be smaller than Wardzinski, he’s actually beaten him 3 out of 4 times before. These two men are the most likely final matchup and it’s going to be fireworks if their other matches are anything to go by.
Dark Horse: Rider Zuchi dominated the Brazilian scene as a brown belt and he’s gotten some wins over big names since being promoted to black belt in 2019, but he’s always fallen just short of a world title. This could be his moment to shine if he can put it all together for three matches in a row, but he’ll have to avenge some recent losses in order to do so.
Ultra-Heavyweight
Favorites: Erich Munis is the reigning champion at ultra-heavyweight and this is another relatively easy division to predict in this preview of IBJJF: The Crown 2024. Munis has consistently the best in this weight class for a while now and he has four consecutive world titles to prove it. Gutemberg Pereira is going to be a tough opponent with a good chance of winning, and his only match with Munis was a loss by just a single point. Munis is still the heavy favorite here, but it’ll be interesting to see how a potential matchup with Pereira goes down.
Dark Horse: Roosevelt Sousa has generally enjoyed his most success in no gi competition but he’s also had some good results in the gi over the years. He actually won the IBJJF No Gi World Championship last year and has had some good performances since then as well, but this really is the highest level of competition. It’s unlikely that Sousa can come away with the title but he’ll give anyone in the bracket a really difficult match along the way.
Women’s Divisions
Lightweight
Favorites: Luiza Monteiro won this division last year and she won the IBJJF World Championship earlier this year, before leaving her belt on the mat to signify that she wouldn’t be defending that title next year. She’s back here though and she’s the clear favorite to win the title again, with it being hard to imagine anyone stopping her. Her most likely challenge is Brianna Ste-Marie, and the two women have plenty of history together. Monteiro leads the series against Ste-Marie 3-1 at present, but one of those was very close and Ste-Marie holds a submission win over her. Monteiro is still the top contender, but Ste-Marie could pull something out of the bag here.
Dark Horse: Cassia Moura is the very definition of a dark horse. The young competitor has taken the BJJ world by storm recently, making headlines earlier in the year for going from blue to black belt in less than one year. This is going to be Moura’s toughest test to date and she does have the skills to pull it off, but it’s a huge challenge for someone so early in their black belt career.
Super-Heavyweight
Favorites: Gabrieli Pessanha is the reigning champion at super-heavyweight and she’s won literally everything there is to win in the sport, for several years in a row at this point. She hasn’t even lost a match in three years and has avenged every loss she had prior to that, so it’s hard to imagine anyone other than her winning. Nathiely De Jesus is going to be her main opposition, as she has been on a great run lately and the only meeting they’ve ever had was a narrow loss on points back in 2020.
Dark Horse: Giovanna Jara was a top brown belt prospect for quite a while, and she’s only been a black belt for a little over a year at this point. She’s already faced Pessanha a few times and lost each match, but some were actually fairly close compared to the usual dominance we see from Pessanha. Winning is still unlikely, but Jara will be one to watch as the bracket unfolds.
The full IBJJF: The Crown 2024 event, including every athlete in the competitor list in the above preview, is available to watch live on November 17th, 2024, on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
