Pan Pacific 2026 Results: Every Gi Black Belt Podium From Melbourne
Olivia Schauer, Ari Tabak, Thomas Messo and Anton Minenko were among the 53 black belts registered in Melbourne a day after the no-gi tournament. Every adult black belt podium from the gi Pan Pacific.
Olivia Schauer won double gold at the IBJJF Pan Pacific Championship on Saturday in Melbourne, beating Tahni Jeynes in the medium heavy final and Yeongyeong Son in the open class final. Schauer is No. 7 in the women’s gi ranking as of October 14.
Thomas Messo won ultra heavy over Otavio Serafim, a day after losing the Pan Pacific No-Gi medium heavy final. Sungwoon Lee lost his first match at light, then won the open class with a final win over Thiago Ortiz.
Every adult black belt podium is below, followed by matches from Schauer and Ari Tabak.
Men’s podiums
| Division | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rooster | Koji Shibamoto (Tri-Force Jiu-Jitsu Academy) | Ryoma Shibusawa (Pato Studio) | Joonhyuk Jang (Dominant Jiu-Jitsu) Takashi Oguro (Tri-Force Jiu-Jitsu Academy) |
| Light Feather | Rei Nagao (Starta) | Shehan Seneviratne (Australian Elite Team) | Mittz Shinoda (Tri-Force Jiu-Jitsu Academy) |
| Feather | Kazuhiro Suzuki (Tri-Force Jiu-Jitsu Academy) | Jonathan Santos (Nova União) | Homare Sugio (Gracie Barra) Raphael Rodrigues (SJJA Jiu-Jitsu Academy) |
| Light | Thiago Ortiz (Ortiz Martial Arts Academy) | Jaemin Yoo (MyBJJ Team) | Michael Messo (Australian Elite Team) Samuel Smith (Australian Elite Team) |
| Middle | Ari Tabak (Secret Kumite in the Woods) | Felippe Beltrao (Felippe Beltrao - Randori Jiu-Jitsu) | Ivan Donlic (Dominance) Tadeu Lobato (High Rollers) |
| Medium Heavy | Eduardo Tinoco (Gracie Barra) | Michael Tohme (Australian Elite Team) | Jonathan Ramos (Modern Musashi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) Lucas Lacerda (Trinity Brookvale Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) |
| Heavy | Maartin Froneman (Garra Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - Darra - Brisbane) | None (two no shows) | None |
| Super Heavy | Anton Minenko (Garra Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - Australia) | Thomas David (Australian Elite Team) | Heeseoung Kim (Kris Kim Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) |
| Ultra Heavy | Thomas Messo (Australian Elite Team) | Otavio Serafim (GF Team) | Courtney Fakiki (Australian Elite Team) Ricky Pachon (Gracie Barra) |
| Open Class | Sungwoon Lee (Bon Jiu-Jitsu) | Thiago Ortiz (Ortiz Martial Arts Academy) | Heeseoung Kim (Kris Kim Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) Ricky Pachon (Gracie Barra) |
Women’s podiums
| Division | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light | Yeongyeong Son (Gracie Allegiance Korea) | None (one entrant) | None (one entrant) |
| Middle | Emily Talevski (Australian Elite Team) | None (see below) | None |
| Medium Heavy | Olivia Schauer (Tony Passos Jiu-Jitsu) | Tahni Jeynes (Australian Elite Team) | None (two entrants) |
| Open Class | Olivia Schauer (Tony Passos Jiu-Jitsu) | Yeongyeong Son (Gracie Allegiance Korea) | Emily Talevski (Australian Elite Team) Tahni Jeynes (Australian Elite Team) |
Podiums are from the IBJJF’s official results, with each final from the official brackets.
Before Melbourne
Olivia Schauer, who won both of her divisions on Saturday, against Naomi Sharp at this year’s New York Summer Open:
Ari Tabak, who won middle for the second year running, against Jung-Cheol Kim at last year’s Pan Pacific:
The other champions
Ten more black belts won divisions in Melbourne:
- Ari Tabak (middle): beat Felippe Beltrao in the final to repeat as champion. He also won light here in 2019 and 2023 and the open class in 2022.
- Anton Minenko (super heavy): beat Thomas David twice in a three man division. He won the division in 2018 and 2019.
- Thiago Ortiz (light): beat Jaemin Yoo in the final, a day after winning light at the Pan Pacific No-Gi, and took silver in the open class.
- Kazuhiro Suzuki (feather): beat Jonathan Santos in the final after taking bronze in the division in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
- Koji Shibamoto (rooster): the 2017 European champion beat Ryoma Shibusawa in the final.
- Rei Nagao (light feather): beat Mittz Shinoda in the semifinal and Shehan Seneviratne in the final.
- Eduardo Tinoco (medium heavy): beat Lucas Lacerda in the semifinal and Michael Tohme in the final.
- Maartin Froneman (heavy): won without a match after both of his opponents were listed as no shows.
- Emily Talevski (women’s middle): won without a match, with Jordan Doherty listed as a no show and Amy Prewett disqualified.
- Yeongyeong Son (women’s light): won as the only entrant and took silver in the open class.
No shows and disqualifications
- Thalison Soares, the 2022 world champion at rooster, is listed as disqualified by no show in his first light feather match, against Shehan Seneviratne.
- Mikael Rhaillander, last year’s medium heavy champion and No. 45 in the gi ranking as of October 14, is listed as a no show at heavy.
- Keito Oyanagi and Jihwan Park, both former Pan Pacific feather champions, are each listed as a no show in their first round match against each other.
- Amy Prewett is listed as disqualified for overweight in women’s middle.
Also listed as no shows: Jefferson Fagundes (feather), Christian Lara (light), Vincent Harvey (middle), Gabriel Silva (heavy) and Jordan Doherty (women’s middle), plus Kazuhiro Suzuki, Jaemin Yoo and Tadeu Lobato in the open class.
What comes next
Every podium is also on our Pan Pacific event page, and Friday’s results are in our Pan Pacific No-Gi story. The Rio, Fort Lauderdale and Sacramento Opens finish this weekend, and Monday’s roundup has the weekend’s highlights. See every upcoming event on the calendar.
All results and videos in this story come from official channels.
