The 2026 IBJJF Crown Field Is Set: Five Champions Return to Defend Their Titles

The 2026 IBJJF Crown has its full field.

The IBJJF named the last of the 48 contenders on October 16, and five of last year's six champions are back to defend their titles: Andy Murasaki, Erich Munis, Gabi Pessanha, Sarah Galvão and Nolan Stuart. The fourth edition runs Sunday, November 8, at the Pyramid in Long Beach, California, live on FloGrappling.

The format stays the same. Each of the six divisions is an eight-athlete bracket, three straight wins take the title, and every champion goes home with $20,000. Brackets have not been drawn yet, so the sections below are about who is in each division and what they bring, not who meets whom.

Pessanha and Galvão, two of the five defending champions, in the 2026 Pan open class final:

Munis and Stuart at the 2025 Worlds, where Munis won super heavyweight and Stuart took silver:

What Changed Since Our Early Look

When we published our early look on October 13, five seats were open and Andy Murasaki was the only defending champion in the field. The IBJJF filled those seats, and one more, over four days: Stuart and Giovanah Oliveira on October 13, Galvão on October 14, Rerisson Gabriel and Pessanha on October 15, and Munis on October 16.

Cole Abate, last year's featherweight champion, is the one 2025 winner who is not back. Rerisson Gabriel has the eighth featherweight spot instead. At women's lightweight, Eliza Nascimento is no longer on the IBJJF's contender list, and Oliveira is in that division now. The IBJJF has not posted a notice about Nascimento.

Here is how the six divisions break down. The names are in the order the IBJJF lists them, with each athlete's standout results at adult black belt.

Featherweight: A Former Champion and a Two-Time Runner-Up

Featherweight has crowned a different champion every year: Sam Nagai in 2023, Diego Pato in 2024 and Abate in 2025. Nagai is back, and so is João "Bisnaga" Mendes, who reached the last two finals and won the world title in between.

The rest of the bracket includes Will Wilson and Mateo Cardona, who finished first and second at lightweight at the 2026 Europeans, two-time Asian champion Jun Yong Cho and two 2024 world medalists. Rerisson Gabriel, the last featherweight named, won the 2026 Brasileiro at light featherweight and has made four major podiums at that weight in two seasons.

Weight limit: 70 kg (154.6 lb).

• Jun Yong Cho: Asian featherweight champion in 2025 and 2026, bronze at the 2026 Europeans.
• Keven Carrasco: bronze at light featherweight at the 2024 Worlds, 2024 American Nationals light featherweight champion.
• João Mendes: 2025 world featherweight champion, Crown finalist in 2024 and 2025, bronze at the 2026 Worlds.
• Will Wilson: 2026 European lightweight champion, silver at the 2026 Pans.
• Mateo Cardona: 2026 Asian lightweight champion, silver at the 2026 Europeans.
• Ademir Barreto: silver at featherweight at the 2024 Worlds.
• Sam Nagai: 2023 Crown champion, 2023 world featherweight champion, silver at the 2026 Worlds.
• Rerisson Gabriel: 2026 Brasileiro and 2025 Pan champion at light featherweight, bronze at the 2026 Pans.

Middleweight: Murasaki Defends Against Two Men Who Beat Him at the Worlds

Andy Murasaki has held this crown since 2024, and the bracket around him includes two more world champions in Mica Galvão and Jackson Nagai. Galvão beat him in the 2024 world lightweight final, and Tarcisio Santos beat him at this year's Worlds on the way to lightweight bronze.

Jackson Nagai reached last year's final, which Murasaki won 4-0, and Rafael Gamba arrives as the 2026 brown belt world champion at this weight. Middleweight was full before any other division, and it was the bracket we spent the most time on in the early look.

Weight limit: 82.3 kg (181.6 lb).

• Tarcisio Santos: bronze at lightweight at the 2026 Worlds, where he beat Murasaki, 2026 American Nationals middleweight champion.
• José Steve: bronze at the 2026 Worlds, silver at the 2026 Europeans and Brasileiro.
• Leonardo Souza: 2025 European lightweight champion, bronze at lightweight at the 2025 Worlds and at middleweight at the 2026 Pans.
• Rafael Gamba: 2026 brown belt world champion at middleweight, making his black belt debut.
• Jackson Nagai: 2024 world middleweight champion, 2026 Pan lightweight champion, silver at the 2026 Worlds, 2025 Crown finalist.
• Mica Galvão: 2024 world lightweight champion, 2024 ADCC champion at 77 kg, 2024 Pan middleweight champion.
• Uanderson Ferreira: 2026 Asian medium heavyweight champion, 2025 Pan Pacific champion at heavyweight and in the open class.
• Andy Murasaki: Crown champion in 2024 and 2025, 2022 No-Gi world champion at middleweight, 2026 Brasileiro lightweight champion.

Heavyweight: Nolan Stuart Defends in a Bracket With Two Reigning World Champions

No heavyweight has won the Crown twice. Nolan Stuart gets the first chance to change that after finishing Adam Wardzinski with his omoplata in last year's final, and he brings back-to-back Pan super heavyweight titles with him.

Two 2026 world champions stand in the way. Nicholas Maglicic holds the heavyweight title and Vinicius Liberati won super heavyweight, with Fellipe Andrew, the first Crown heavyweight champion, and Leo Ferreira, a world finalist two years running, filling out a bracket with three world champions in it.

Weight limit: 94.3 kg (208 lb).

• Vinicius Liberati: 2026 world super heavyweight champion, 2026 European and Brasileiro champion, silver at heavyweight at the 2024 Worlds.
• Fellipe Andrew: 2023 Crown champion, 2023 world heavyweight champion, 2021 world open class champion.
• Windson Torres: 2025 European super heavyweight champion, bronze at super heavyweight at the 2026 Worlds.
• Leo Ferreira: silver at heavyweight at the 2025 and 2026 Worlds, 2026 European and Brasileiro champion.
• Omar Nada: 2026 brown belt world champion at super heavyweight and in the open class, making his black belt debut.
• Davi Vetoraci: 2025 European medium heavyweight champion, bronze at heavyweight at the 2026 Brasileiro.
• Nicholas Maglicic: 2026 world heavyweight champion, 2025 No-Gi world champion at super heavyweight.
• Nolan Stuart: 2025 Crown champion, Pan super heavyweight champion in 2025 and 2026, silver at the 2025 Worlds.

Ultra Heavyweight: Erich Munis Goes for Four Straight Against the Reigning World Champion

Erich Munis has never lost at the Crown. He won ultra heavyweight in 2023, 2024 and 2025, the IBJJF calls him the No. 1 ranked man in the sport, and he comes in off a 2026 Worlds where he took the open class for the third year in a row.

Seif-Eddine Houmine is the man with the division's world title, his second after 2024, and he makes his Crown debut at 38. Behind them are last year's bronze medalist, a Pan champion from the heavyweight division, an Asian double champion and a brand new black belt.

Weight limit: none.

• Francisco Papasidero: bronze at last year's Crown, bronze at heavyweight at the 2026 Worlds.
• Seif-Eddine Houmine: world ultra heavyweight champion in 2024 and 2026, 2026 Pan and European champion.
• Helder Rodrigues: 2024 Brasileiro ultra heavyweight champion, silver at the 2025 Pans, bronze at the 2024 Worlds.
• Thierry Felipe: 2026 brown belt world silver medalist, won the open class at the Sacramento Fall Open this month in his black belt debut.
• Alexander Sak: 2026 Asian champion at ultra heavyweight and in the open class, silver at the 2025 European No-Gi.
• Pedro Machado: 2024 Pan heavyweight champion, silver at the 2023 Worlds, bronze at the 2025 Worlds.
• Matheus Vetoraci: silver at heavyweight at the 2026 Europeans, silver at medium heavyweight at the 2025 Europeans.
• Erich Munis: Crown champion in 2023, 2024 and 2025, world open class champion in 2024, 2025 and 2026, world super heavyweight champion four times.

Women's Lightweight: Sarah Galvão Defends in a Bracket With Two 2026 World Champions

Sarah Galvão won this division last year in her first months as a black belt, and she has since added European, Pan and Brasileiro titles at lightweight and the Pan open class. Two women in her bracket won world titles this year: Janaina Lebre, who beat Galvão in the 2026 world lightweight final, and Sabrina Gondim at featherweight.

Lebre has lost the last two Crown finals by a single advantage each, first to Brianna Ste-Marie and then to Galvão. Elisabeth Clay, the reigning No-Gi world champion at middleweight and in the open class, is in this bracket too, along with Nikolett Kis, the 2026 brown belt world champion at lightweight.

Weight limit: 64 kg (141.6 lb).

• Nikolett Kis: 2026 brown belt world champion at lightweight, now a black belt.
• Janaina Lebre: world lightweight champion in 2025 and 2026, Crown finalist in 2024 and 2025.
• Elisabeth Clay: No-Gi world champion in 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025, most recently at middleweight and in the open class, silver at the 2026 Worlds, 2026 Brasileiro middleweight champion.
• Aghata Rabelo: 2026 American Nationals open class champion, bronze at middleweight at the 2026 Pans.
• Keanna Klay: 2026 Asian champion at lightweight and in the open class, bronze at featherweight at the 2026 Pans and Brasileiro.
• Sabrina Gondim: 2026 world featherweight champion, 2026 Pan No-Gi featherweight champion.
• Giovanah Oliveira: bronze at featherweight at the 2026 Worlds and Brasileiro, bronze at the 2025 No-Gi Worlds.
• Sarah Galvão: 2025 Crown champion, 2026 European, Pan and Brasileiro lightweight champion, silver at the 2026 Worlds, silver at -65 kg at the 2026 ADCC Worlds.

Women's Super Heavyweight: Gabi Pessanha Chases a Fourth Straight Crown

Gabi Pessanha has won every Crown ever held at this weight, and her run at the Worlds is longer still. She has taken super heavyweight and the open class at every Worlds since 2021, six years in a row.

The bracket she returns to has two 2026 world finalists at heavyweight in Larissa Dias and Maria Alencar, six-time world silver medalist Yara Soares, and Anabel Lopez, who took silver at ADCC Worlds last month. Dias, a three-time world champion, won bronze at last year's Crown.

Weight limit: none.

• Larissa Dias: world heavyweight champion in 2022, 2025 and 2026, bronze at the 2025 Crown.
• Yara Soares: 2026 European and Brasileiro heavyweight champion, six world silver medals since 2021, bronze at the 2026 Worlds.
• Hazel Butcher-Salazar: 2026 brown belt world champion at heavyweight and in the open class.
• Ingridd Alves: 2025 European and 2024 Pan champion at medium heavyweight, silver at the 2025 and 2026 Worlds.
• Maria Alencar: silver at heavyweight at the 2026 Worlds, silver at super heavyweight at the 2026 Pans.
• Maria Vitória Ruffatto: bronze in the open class at the 2026 Worlds, 2023 Pan No-Gi heavyweight champion.
• Anabel Lopez: 2024 No-Gi world champion at heavyweight, silver at +65 kg at the 2026 ADCC Worlds, 2025 Pan No-Gi heavyweight champion.
• Gabi Pessanha: Crown champion in 2023, 2024 and 2025, world super heavyweight and open class champion every year from 2021 to 2026, No-Gi world super heavyweight champion in 2024 and 2025.

How to Watch

The Crown streams live on FloGrappling. The start time has not been announced, and tickets are on sale through Long Beach State. The IBJJF has started posting its division graphics on Instagram, featherweight first, and the bracket reveal comes next.

What Comes Next

Once the IBJJF draws the brackets, our IBJJF Crown 2026 page will carry every first round match, and we will break down the ones worth circling. Every event on the way to Long Beach is on the calendar.

All results, records and videos in this story come from official channels.