I Fight in Pajamas: 2013 IBJJF Pans (Post Thoughts)

Monday, March 25, 2013

2013 IBJJF Pans (Post Thoughts)

The IBJJF 2013 Pan Championship has come and gone. This year was bigger than ever spanning over the course of five days. While the Pan may not be considered the most coveted tournament it seems to be the most attended each year which begs the question..."Why is it NOT the most coveted title?" There were a few big names missing from the black belt brackets this year as some are heavily focused on other tournaments such as the Abu Dhabi Pro. Such names as Lovato, Rodolfo, Farias, & Marcelo Garcia just to name a few did not compete this year. As usual, Budovideos did an excellent job of providing streaming coverage which aerial mat views and selectable mats. The commentary was top notch as well with the likes of Budo Jake, Shawn Williams, and guests like Kurt Osiander popping in.

In Black Belt action:
Caio Terra defeated Bruno Malficine (points)
Guilherme Mendes defeated Laercio Fernandes (points)
Rafael Mendes defeated Cobrinha (points)
Michael Langhi closed out with teammate Lucas Lepri
Clark Gracie defeated Marcelo Mafra in epic fashion (submission)
Andre Galvao defeated Gustavo Campos
Roberto Alencar "Tussa" defeated Nivaldo Lima (points)
Leo Nogueira defeated Gabriel Vella
Marcus Almeida "Buchecha" defeated Alexander Trans

Open Weight
Marcus Almeida "Buchecha" defeated Andre Galvao (points)

In Brown Belt action:
Joao Miyao took gold in Light Feather
Paulo Miyao took gold defeating Gianni Grippo by choke at Feather
Rafael Henrique Pereira defeated reigning Pan champ AJ Agazarm
Keenan Cornelius took double gold in his weight and the open

Noteworthy:

Michael Liera Jr (Atos Purple belt) is one to watch as he is becoming very dominant. He took double gold in his weight and the open. We will continue to see big things from him.
Marcio Andre (Nova Uniao Purple belt) followed up his 2012 Worlds title with a gold at Pan. He will probably be promoted to brown before the next Worlds tournament.
Say what you want about the Miyao Bros and Gianni Grippo but their De la Riva/Berimbolo game looked very dominant all day Sunday.
Keenan looked as dominant as ever quieting critics that the TLI drama and move to Atos might disrupt his concentration.
Rafael Pereira's win over AJ Agazarm at Brown Light came as a big surprise since Rafael's performance in the Brown Belt Kumite was less than stellar.
Sean Roberts (Ralph Gracie) got his wish and faced Leandro Lo in the 2nd round of his weight class where he was dominated 43-0 before being submitted by Lo. You have to give Sean credit for competing at the Pan after receiving his black belt just a week prior.
The Great Kurt Osiander took gold in his respective division.
Cobrinha loses another close final to Rafa Mendes. I do feel Rafa outworked him at the end of the match getting the decision. One has to think that Cobrinha will have to truly beat Rafa by points or sub if he is going to get over the hump. Ref decisions have not been good to him.
I was happy to see Caio Terra break out of his funk against Bruno Malficine. Bruno looked unstoppable on Sunday and Caio executed a brilliant game plan scoring late in the match threatening with a calf slicer at the end. Caio seemed calm and collected throughout the entire match.
Clark Gracie was impressive with his aggressive omoplatas all day. Good to see him capture gold. One of the best finals on Sunday. See the video below.
I can't say enough good things about Buchecha. Many people hate watching the bigger guys compete because they can be boring. You never seem to get this with Buchecha. He moves with the speed and technique of a Lightweight. The absolute final between him and Galvao was epic.