The IBJJF have just announced that registration is now open for the No Gi Pan-Ams, along with the much smaller Atlanta Open. Despite being the single-biggest tournament organizer in BJJ, with the largest revenue stream to match, the IBJJF was hit just as hard as everyone else when the Coronavirus pandemic necessitated the postponement of all future events. Of course, smaller gyms and local businesses being pushed to the very brink of extinction have taken the centre-stage which makes it easy to forget that the IBJJF spent months without holding a single event, where normally there would have been a dozen or more.
Since the original postponement of all events, the IBJJF has taken a slow and steady approach to opening tournaments back up and it seems to have worked well. At the time of writing, the colored belt portion of the IBJJF Pan-Ams has just started after a recent announcement that the event would go ahead only two months after it’s original scheduled date. Now, they have also released the scheduled dates for both the no gi Pan-Ams and the Atlanta Open, with both tournaments taking place on November 21st and 22nd at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, GA.
Brazilian athletes were incredibly unhappy with the decision for the Pan-Ams to go ahead despite the fact that America currently has travel restrictions in place and with only six weeks to go before the no gi version, it’s possible that these restrictions may still apply.
For the latest news on IBJJF events or to sign up to the No Gi Pan-Ams and the Atlanta Open, click here.
