In one of the most surprising stories to come from the IBJJF World Championship 2024, Tainan Dalpra has just been disqualified in the quarter-final of the middleweight division. This means that this year will be the first time since Dalpra was promoted to black belt that he hasn’t stood on the podium at the highest level of the sport. Even before that, Dalpra was one of the top coloured belt competitors at every single rank and he stood on the podium at various different belt levels dating back all the way to 2016. He was obviously one of the favourites going into this tournament, as he is every year, so it’s a real shock to see him go out so early.
Dalpra was the top seed so he got a bye through the first round and beat Grant Bogdanove in the second, setting up a quarter-final match against Francisco Lo. Everything was going pretty normally for Tainan Dalpra at the IBJJF World Championship 2024 and this match was no exception; until he reached for an underhook from de la riva and applied sideways pressure on Lo’s knee, resulting in him being disqualified. It’s opened the door for Lo and a number of other elite grapplers to become the new middleweight champion and as the tournament comes to an end, everyone remaining will be fighting tooth and nail for the crown.
While he has made his black belt no gi debut and gone from strength to strength in that ruleset, I t’s been a difficult time for Dalpra in the gi recently. He was promoted at the end of 2020 and immediately won the middleweight division in both 2021 and 2022, before falling just short of a third title in 2023 when he lost to Jansen Gomes in the final. Although his medal tally hasn’t looked as impressive recently, his actual performances on the mat still have. Whether he continues competing in the gi or focuses more on no gi in the future, Dalpra will still be a force to be reckoned with.
