The Pan Pacific Headlines a Weekend With 304 Black Belts Across Four IBJJF Events
The IBJJF Pan Pacific runs in Melbourne with three of last year’s champions back in their divisions, and Opens in Rio de Janeiro, Fort Lauderdale and Sacramento fill out the weekend.
The Pan Pacific gets the weekend going in Melbourne, and thanks to the time difference its no-gi black belts hit the mat at 4:00 PM PT (7:00 PM ET) on Thursday. The gi tournament follows on Saturday, Melbourne time.
Opens in Rio de Janeiro, Fort Lauderdale and Sacramento fill the rest of the weekend, for 304 black belt entries across the four IBJJF events. Fight to Win 328 runs Friday night, and two ADCC Opens and ONE Samurai 4 follow on Saturday.
Before the weekend, two matches worth a look. Thomas Messo against Tadeu Lobato in last year’s Pan Pacific No-Gi medium heavy final:
And Fran Papasidero against Lucas Calado at the Atlanta Winter Open earlier this year:
The Headliner: IBJJF Pan Pacific
No-gi event page · Gi event page · Official no-gi page · Official gi page · No-gi brackets · Gi brackets
The Pan Pacific No-Gi runs Friday and the gi tournament on Saturday at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre. There are 32 black belts in no-gi and 53 in the gi, and the brackets are out.
The name to watch is Thalison Soares. The 2022 world champion is entered at light feather in the gi, and our story on Thalison has his titles.
Thomas Messo is the other storyline. He’s won no-gi medium heavy at the Pan Pacific three years running, and Devon Coetzee is his only opponent this year, so their match is the final.
Three of last year’s champions are back in the division they won:
- Thomas Messo (no-gi medium heavy): champion in 2023, 2024 and 2025, plus the 2025 no-gi open class.
- Michael Messo (no-gi middle): 2025 champion.
- Ari Tabak (gi middle): 2025 champion, after winning light in 2019 and 2023.
Also in Melbourne:
- Lucas Lacerda and Nicholas Hughes (no-gi heavy): the 2024 and 2023 Pan Pacific No-Gi heavy champions, drawn against each other in the first round.
- Anton Minenko (super heavy, gi and no-gi): Pan Pacific super heavy champion five times between 2018 and 2022.
- Otavio Serafim (ultra heavy, gi and no-gi): 2017 European No-Gi champion. In no-gi, Alexander HungaHunga is his only opponent.
- Olivia Schauer (women’s medium heavy, gi and no-gi): No. 7 in the women’s gi ranking and a 2026 Pans bronze medalist. In the gi, Tahni Jeynes is her only opponent.
- Mikael Rhaillander (gi heavy): 2025 Pan Pacific champion at medium heavy.
We count 12 first round matches between Pan Pacific medalists. They’re all in our key matches post.
Ranked black belts registered
| Rank | Athlete | Event, division (entrants) |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Fran Papasidero | Sacramento, ultra heavy (4) |
| 11 | Enderson Dias | Fort Lauderdale, heavy (3) |
| 20 | Luiz Felipe Assis | Rio, heavy (5) |
| 30 | Nolan Stuart | Sacramento, ultra heavy (4) |
| 45 | Mikael Rhaillander | Pan Pacific, heavy (3) |
| 77 | Italo Almeida | Rio, light feather (10) |
| W2 | Larissa Dias | Fort Lauderdale, super heavy (1) |
| W7 | Olivia Schauer | Pan Pacific, medium heavy (2) |
| W10 | Jessica Dantas | Rio, light feather (2) |
| W24 | Beatrice Jin | Fort Lauderdale, rooster (1) |
| W26 | Natacha Ribeiro | Rio, heavy (4) |
| W32 | Maria Carolina Joia | Rio, middle (3) |
| W43 | Nicole Secundino | Fort Lauderdale, light (2) |
| 9 (no-gi) | Darlan Casaca | Rio no-gi, medium heavy (5) |
| 17 (no-gi) | Marco Mendes | Sacramento no-gi, light (2) |
| 36 (no-gi) | Sebastian Attard | Pan Pacific No-Gi, super heavy (4) |
| 37 (no-gi) | Jefferson Batista | Rio no-gi, super heavy (4) |
| 43 (no-gi) | Sean Goolsby | Fort Lauderdale no-gi, ultra heavy (4) |
| 53 (no-gi) | Christiano Troisi | Fort Lauderdale no-gi, ultra heavy (4) |
| 76 (no-gi) | Bernardo Mastrangelo | Rio no-gi, feather (5) |
| 83 (no-gi) | Luccas Lira | Fort Lauderdale no-gi, ultra heavy (4) |
| 99 (no-gi) | Pietro Emanuel | Sacramento no-gi, ultra heavy (2) |
| W7 (no-gi) | Gabi Schuck | Fort Lauderdale no-gi, middle (2) |
| W10 (no-gi) | Beatrice Jin | Fort Lauderdale no-gi, rooster (1) |
| W22 (no-gi) | Milena Lima | Rio no-gi, super heavy (2) |
| W25 (no-gi) | Lyzz Mitrovic | Sacramento no-gi, super heavy (1) |
| W32 (no-gi) | Carol Brunacio | Rio no-gi, light (3) |
| W35 (no-gi) | Angela Correa | Rio no-gi, middle (2) |
Gi ranking unless marked no-gi, as of October 14, 2026. W marks the women’s ranking. Division entrants in parentheses.
IBJJF Opens
Rio Spring International Open
Event page · Official gi page · Official no-gi page · Registrations · Gi brackets · No-gi brackets
Rio has the biggest Open field of the weekend: 49 black belts in no-gi on Friday and 81 in the gi on Saturday. The brackets are out, and five of last year’s Rio champions are back in the division they won.
- Diogo “Baby Shark” Reis (gi light feather, no-gi feather): 2025 European champion and 2023 Pans champion, with world medals in 2022, 2023 and 2025. In no-gi he opens against Tomas Torres.
- Yuri Hendrex (light feather, gi and no-gi): 2025 European champion at rooster and a 2026 world bronze medalist. He’s in the same gi division as Baby Shark.
- Luiz Felipe Assis (gi heavy): 2026 Pans champion, 2026 world bronze medalist and the defending Rio champion at heavy.
- Jessica Dantas (women’s gi light feather): two time European champion, two time Pans champion and 2026 world silver medalist. She won here last year, and Ana Luiza Nascimento is her only opponent.
- Darlan Casaca (no-gi medium heavy): No. 9 in the no-gi ranking and the defending champion in his division.
- Carol Brunacio (women’s no-gi light): 2025 Pan No-Gi champion and 2025 world silver medalist.
Bernardo Mastrangelo and Maria Carolina Joia are also back to defend the light feather and women’s middle titles they won here last year.
Fort Lauderdale International Open
Event page · Official gi page · Official no-gi page · Registrations
Fort Lauderdale runs the gi and no-gi on Saturday, with 31 black belts in the gi and 21 in no-gi. Brackets come out Friday.
Circle the no-gi ultra heavy division. Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu, a three time No-Gi world champion at ultra heavy, is one of four there with Sean Goolsby, Christiano Troisi and Luccas Lira, all three ranked in no-gi.
- Cyborg (ultra heavy, gi and no-gi): No-Gi world champion in 2017, 2019 and 2021 and the 2022 Pans champion.
- Sean Goolsby (no-gi ultra heavy): 2022 European No-Gi champion and 2026 Pan No-Gi silver medalist.
- Larissa Dias (super heavy, gi and no-gi): three time world champion at heavy and the defending champion here, alone in both divisions. Our story on her move up has her titles.
- Enderson “Varão” Dias (gi heavy): 2026 Pans champion, 2026 world silver medalist and No. 11 in the gi ranking.
- Beatrice Jin (women’s rooster, gi and no-gi): 2026 world bronze medalist at light, alone in both divisions.
Abraham Marte, a two time world bronze medalist at ultra heavy, is in the gi ultra heavy division with Cyborg. Iris Feliz is entered at black belt while still No. 10 in the women’s brown belt gi ranking.
Sacramento Fall International Open
Event page · Official gi page · Official no-gi page · Registrations
Sacramento is a one day event on Saturday, with 19 black belts in the gi and 18 in no-gi. Brackets come out Friday.
The gi ultra heavy division has four men, and three of them have a place in IBJJF Crown history or its 2026 field:
- Fran Papasidero: No. 3 in the gi ranking, 2026 world bronze medalist at heavy and the defending champion here. He’s in the Crown’s ultra heavyweight field next month.
- Nolan Stuart: Pans champion in 2025 and 2026 and the 2025 Crown heavyweight champion. He won heavy here last year.
- Thierry Felipe: in the Crown’s ultra heavyweight field and still No. 6 in the brown belt gi ranking.
- Pietro Emanuel: No. 99 in the no-gi ranking. In no-gi, Thierry Felipe is his only opponent.
Papasidero and Stuart are both registered with Brea Jiu-Jitsu.
Two No-Gi world champions are entered in no-gi. Marco Mendes, the reigning champion at feather, is at light, and Lyzz Mitrovic, the 2023 champion at medium heavy, is at super heavy in both tournaments. Our stories on Mendes and Mitrovic have their titles.
Leo Vilela is back to defend his feather title from last year, and Lívio Ribeiro, the 2021 Pans champion at rooster, is at light feather.
ADCC Opens
The ADCC New Jersey Open is Saturday in Jackson Township from 5:00 AM PT (8:00 AM ET) on FloGrappling. Its top level is Advanced, and the entrants include Pan No-Gi medalists Gabby Etzel and Rayssa Fabyanne.
The ADCC Callao Open is Saturday in Peru from 7:00 AM PT (10:00 AM ET), also on FloGrappling.
Pro Cards
Fight to Win 328 is Friday at 2:00 PM PT (5:00 PM ET) in Massachusetts, streaming on FloGrappling. Fight to Win has posted a 43 match card, and it’s all on our event page.
ONE Samurai 4 is Saturday at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, and its card has one submission grappling match: Yoshinari Fukushima vs. Masaki Takeura at lightweight.
Looking further ahead, UFC BJJ 13 is set for October 29 in Las Vegas with two title matches.
Where to Watch
| Event | Day | PT / ET | Stream |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pan Pacific No-Gi (black belts from 10:00 AM Friday in Melbourne) | Thu | 4:00 PM / 7:00 PM | No stream announced |
| Rio Spring Open, no-gi (black belts from 9:00 AM local) | Fri | 5:00 AM / 8:00 AM | No stream announced |
| Fight to Win 328 | Fri | 2:00 PM / 5:00 PM | FloGrappling |
| Pan Pacific, gi (black belts from 9:30 AM Saturday in Melbourne) | Fri | 3:30 PM / 6:30 PM | No stream announced |
| Rio Spring Open, gi (black belts from 9:00 AM local) | Sat | 5:00 AM / 8:00 AM | No stream announced |
| ADCC New Jersey Open | Sat | 5:00 AM / 8:00 AM | FloGrappling |
| ADCC Callao Open | Sat | 7:00 AM / 10:00 AM | FloGrappling |
| Fort Lauderdale Open, gi and no-gi | Sat | Schedule posts Friday | No stream announced |
| Sacramento Fall Open, gi and no-gi | Sat | Schedule posts Friday | No stream announced |
| ONE Samurai 4 | Sat | Not yet announced | Not yet announced |
Prospect Watch: Moussa Kadi
Moussa “The Truth” Kadi is No. 15 in the men’s brown belt no-gi ranking with 225 points as of October 14, and he’s entered at brown belt medium heavy at the Pan Pacific No-Gi.
Points only come from podium finishes at IBJJF events, so a total like that means a steady run of medals across this season and the two before it.
Next Weekend
The Boston Fall, Orange County Fall and Nashville Fall Opens run October 24 and 25. Fellipe Andrew, the 2021 world open class champion, is entered at heavy in Orange County, and Wallisson Oliveira and Clay Mayfield are the only two men at medium heavy in Nashville, gi and no-gi.
The ADCC Vancouver Open and three pro cards round out that weekend, and everything is on the calendar.
All registrations, rankings, brackets, results and videos in this story come from official channels.
