Early Look: The 2026 IBJJF Crown Has Six World Champions and One Defending King
The IBJJF has named 43 of 48 contenders for November 8 at the Pyramid in Long Beach. Andy Murasaki is the only defending champion among them, and his bracket includes two men who have beaten him at the Worlds.
The Crown has one of the cleanest pitches in jiu-jitsu. The IBJJF invites eight of the best black belts in a weight class, drops them into one bracket on one night, and hands the crown to whoever wins three straight matches.
The fourth edition runs Sunday, November 8, at the Pyramid in Long Beach, California, live on FloGrappling. There are four men's divisions and two women's divisions, and each champion takes home $20,000.
Forty-three of the 48 contenders are set. Six of them won black belt world titles at the 2026 Worlds, yet only one is a defending Crown champion: Andy Murasaki, who is chasing a third straight middleweight title.
Updated October 19: the IBJJF has since named all 48 contenders. Erich Munis, Gabi Pessanha, Sarah Galvão and Nolan Stuart are all back to defend their titles alongside Andy Murasaki, Rerisson Gabriel took the last featherweight spot, and Cole Abate is the only 2025 champion not in the field. Eliza Nascimento is no longer on the IBJJF’s list at women’s lightweight, where Giovanah Oliveira has been announced. The full field is on our IBJJF Crown 2026 page.
Twelve finishes from last year’s Crown, to set the mood:
Why the Crown Matters
Most of the year, the best black belts have to fight through crowded brackets to find each other. At the Worlds, a contender can spend a full day working toward the one match everybody came to see.
The Crown skips the line. Every opponent is someone the IBJJF picked as one of the best in the world at that weight, so the quarterfinals look a lot like the final four at a major.
It's also a rematch machine. The Worlds settle the gi titles, and months later the Crown puts many of the same names back in a bracket together with real money on the line.
The format has grown fast. The first Crown in 2023 had four athletes per division and paid $15,000 to each winner. Since 2024 every bracket has had eight, and this year's champions earn $20,000.
How the Crown Got Here
The first edition ran on November 19, 2023, and the IBJJF billed it as its biggest professional event yet. Three editions later, two names have owned it.
Erich Munis has won ultra heavyweight every year, and Gabi Pessanha has done the same at women's super heavyweight. Neither is among the 43 contenders announced so far.
| Division | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Featherweight | Sam Nagai IN THE 2026 FIELD | Diego Pato | Cole Abate |
| Middleweight | Tainan Dalpra | Andy Murasaki IN THE 2026 FIELD | Andy Murasaki IN THE 2026 FIELD |
| Heavyweight | Fellipe Andrew IN THE 2026 FIELD | Adam Wardzinski | Nolan Stuart |
| Ultra heavyweight | Erich Munis | Erich Munis | Erich Munis |
| Women's lightweight | Luiza Monteiro | Brianna Ste-Marie | Sarah Galvão |
| Women's super heavyweight | Gabi Pessanha | Gabi Pessanha | Gabi Pessanha |
Murasaki took the long way to his reign. Tainan Dalpra submitted him with a triangle in the 2023 final, then withdrew injured before their rematch in the 2024 final, which handed Murasaki the title. In 2025 he beat Jackson Nagai 4-0 to keep it.
Some contenders have been knocking on the door for years. João "Bisnaga" Mendes lost the last two featherweight finals, to Diego Pato in 2024 and Cole Abate in 2025.
Bisnaga’s first Crown final, against Diego Pato in 2024:
Janaina Lebre has the same story at women's lightweight. She lost the 2024 and 2025 finals to Brianna Ste-Marie and Sarah Galvão, each time by a single advantage, and both she and Bisnaga are back in 2026.
The Field So Far
Middleweight is the only full bracket, and it's a monster. Every other division has seven of its eight contenders, with one name still to come in each.
Five Open Seats
Here's the twist. Five of last year's six champions are not among the 43 names announced so far: Cole Abate, Nolan Stuart, Erich Munis, Sarah Galvão and Gabi Pessanha.
Each of their divisions has exactly one spot left. The IBJJF hasn't said who fills them, so for now Murasaki is the only reigning champion in the field.
Two former champions are back, though. Sam Nagai won the first featherweight title in 2023, and Fellipe Andrew won the first heavyweight title the same night.
Matchups We'd Circle
Brackets haven't been drawn, so none of these are promised. If the draw cooperates, these are the ones we want to see.
Murasaki and the Men Who Know Him Best
Murasaki hasn't lost at the Crown since the 2023 final, and his bracket is full of people with history against him.
The IBJJF says Galvão is back after two years away from its majors, and this is his first Crown. Santos is 19 and got his black belt about a year ago. Nagai is the 2024 world middleweight champion and took lightweight silver at the 2026 Worlds.
Galvão and Murasaki in the 2024 world lightweight final:
Larissa Dias and Maria Alencar, Round Three
Dias beat Alencar with a toehold in the bronze medal match at last year's Crown, and the two finished first and second at heavyweight at the 2026 Worlds. Dias has won three world heavyweight titles, the last two in a row.
The rest of the bracket won't make it easy. Yara Soares lost the 2025 world final to Dias, and Anabel Lopez took silver at +65 kg at ADCC Worlds this year.
Dias and Soares with the 2025 world heavyweight title on the line:
Janaina Lebre and Sabrina Gondim, Round Three
Lebre beat Gondim in the 2024 Pan final, then choked her with an ezekiel in last year's Crown quarterfinal. Both have won world titles since: Lebre her second straight at lightweight and Gondim her first, at featherweight.
Elisabeth Clay is in this bracket too, and she's the reigning No-Gi world champion at middleweight and in the open class.
Lebre and Gondim in the 2024 Pan final:
Two World Champions at Heavyweight
Vinicius Liberati won super heavyweight at the 2026 Worlds and enters at heavyweight here, where Nicholas Maglicic is the reigning world champion. Liberati knows this weight, too: he took heavyweight silver at the 2024 Worlds.
Add Fellipe Andrew, the first Crown heavyweight champion, and Leo Ferreira, a heavyweight silver medalist at the last two Worlds, and this could be the deepest bracket outside middleweight.
Liberati in the 2024 world heavyweight final:
Houmine Against an Open Field
Seif-Eddine Houmine won ultra heavyweight at the 2026 Worlds, his second world title, and the 38-year-old Frenchman makes his Crown debut in Long Beach.
With Munis not among the names so far, Houmine headlines a bracket with Pedro Machado, who moves up two weight classes, and Alexander Sak, who won ultra heavyweight and the open class at the 2026 Asian Championship. Last year's bronze medalist, Francisco Papasidero, is back too.
Houmine’s 2026 world ultra heavyweight final against Gutemberg Pereira:
Rookies at the Big Table
The Crown has mostly been a room for established black belts. This year's field also has six recent promotions, all of them medalists at brown belt at the 2026 Worlds.
Gamba, Nada and Felipe will make their black belt debuts at the Crown.
How to Watch
The Crown streams live on FloGrappling. The start time hasn't been announced, and tickets are on sale through Long Beach State.
Our IBJJF Crown 2026 page has the details and will carry the brackets once they're published.
What Comes Next
Five contenders are still to be named, and the brackets follow. We'll have the full field on our event page as soon as the IBJJF finishes its announcements, and every upcoming event is on the calendar.
All results, records and videos in this story come from official channels.
