Seif Eddine-Houmine has just etched his name in the history book by becoming the first Moroccan athlete to win the IBJJF World Championship, after being promoted to champion at ultra-heavyweight for 2024. He is also only the third African competitor to ever win the title, after Angolan Joao Roque won the light-featherweight division in 1997 and South African Penny Thomas won the women’s medium-heavyweight division twice. Eddine-Houmine is a highly unusual case though, as he has actually become the world champion around 4 months after the tournament took place. The official podium and standings for the IBJJF World Championship 2024 has had to undergo some big changes though, as the result of multiple competitors failing in-competition PEDs tests.
Eddine-Houmine was originally the bronze medalist in the ultra-heavyweight division after he went 2-1 and lost in the semi-finals to the eventual winner, Yatan Bueno. It wasn’t that long before the first change was made though, as the results of the in-competition testing came back and Bueno was stripped of his title for failing. That meant that the rest of the podium moved up without him and Eddine-Houmine was promoted to silver medalist, while Pedro Alex was given the title. Alex also tested positive for banned substances and was stripped of the title he was given, which left the organisation with another adjustment to make.
The IBJJF has now announced that Seif Eddine-Houmine has been promoted to world champion for 2024, making history as the first Moroccan to do so. The decision was made because he was the bronze medalist who lost to the original champion, and the other bronze medalist Guilherme Augusto has now been promoted to silver medalist behind him. The two bronze medals have now gone to the men who lost to Alex and Bueno in the quarter-finals, Kjetil Lydvo and Helder Junior respectively. It’s a huge change to the standings overall and it’s a sequence of events that’s unlikely to happen again any time soon.
Seif Eddine-Houmine announced the news that he would now be the first Moroccan IBJJF World Champion ever in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
