Diego ‘Pato’ Oliveira and Cole Abate managed to make it to the final of the featherweight division opposite one another at the IBJJF Pan Championship 2025, before making the decision to closeout the bracket instead. A closeout is when two competitors in the same team beat all of their respective opponents and end up in the final together, but they choose not to compete. Instead they will privately agree on who should become the champion, usually based on seniority within the team. The other grappler will the withdraw from the match and receive the silver medal, while the other will receive the gold medal by default.
It’s a somewhat controversial but not at all uncommon practice in Jiu-Jitsu, and some of the best grapplers in the world have closed out divisions with their teammates before. The arguments in favor of it are to eliminate the risk of unnecessary injury and to maintain a healthy training environment, while those opposed are usually against the idea of not seeing a final match at a major event. The IBJJF has already introduced some measures to limit the number of closeouts at the World Championship, but that practice doesn’t currently extend to other major events and doesn’t fully eliminate them.
In this particular instance, Abate and Oliveira both entered the featherweight division at the IBJJF Pan Championship despite Oliveira normally competing at light-featherweight. In line with standard practice at any IBJJF event, the two Art of Jiu-Jitsu competitors were seeded on opposite sides of the bracket because they are teammates. They then each beat three of the best competitors in the world at this weight and booked their place in the final together, before Abate deferred to his teammate and accepted the silver medal instead of competing. This meant that Oliveira was the official light-featherweight Pan champion for 2025 and with his European title earlier in the year, he is now halfway towards an IBJJF grand slam.
The full IBJJF Pan Championship 2025 event replay, including the full featherweight division, is available to watch on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch. The Mendes brothers shared the reason behind Diego ‘Pato’ Oliveira and Cole Abate deciding to closeout their division in a recent story on their official Instagram account:
