Erich Munis Leads 153 Black Belts at the 2026 Sul-Americano

There is live grappling every day through Sunday: three days of IBJJF competition in Barueri, Opens in Turin and San Antonio, two ADCC Opens on Saturday and four pro cards on FloGrappling. UFC BJJ 11 opened the weekend on Thursday night, and its results are near the end of this post.

The Headliner: IBJJF Sul-Americano Championship

Sept 25 to 27 · Barueri, Brazil · FloGrappling, 5:30 AM PT daily. Event hub · Official event page · Registrations · Watch on FloGrappling

According to IBJJF registrations, 153 adult black belts are entered across 17 divisions, 120 men and 33 women, inside the same Barueri gym that hosted the Brasileiro earlier this year. The name at the top of the sheet is Erich Munis of Soldiers Jiu-Jitsu, who leads the IBJJF adult black belt gi ranking with 1,100 points and is entered at ultra heavy. He has won seven world titles: super heavy in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025, and the open class in 2024, 2025 and 2026, according to IBJJF results.

His teammate Vinicius Liberati, ranked fifth and the 2026 world champion at super heavy, is entered at super heavy, the deepest bracket of the weekend with three ranked black belts: Liberati, João Victor Viera and Anderson Munis, who won the division at the 2024 World Championship. Liberati is also the defending champion here, after winning super heavy and the open class at last year's Sul-Americano. At heavy, Alliance's Luiz Felipe “Felipinho” Assis won the 2026 Pan Championship. On the women's side, Pax Jiu-Jitsu Academy's Jessica Dantas is the highest ranked entrant at 16th and took silver at rooster at the 2026 World Championship. She has won this event four times, most recently at light feather last year.

Ranked black belts registered

IBJJF 2025 to 2026 adult black belt gi ranking as of Sept 23. W marks the women's ranking. Division entrants in parentheses.

Also in ultra heavy is Hygor Brito of Lótus Club, who won this event at heavy in 2018 and took silver at ultra heavy at the 2025 European Championship. Medals and titles in this section are from IBJJF results.

IBJJF Opens

Turin International Open, Gi and No-Gi

Sat Sept 26 · Palazzo dello Sport Ruffini, Turin, Italy. Event page · Gi event page · No-Gi event page

36 adult black belts are registered in the gi and 12 in no-gi. The gi ultra heavy division has only two entrants, and both are ranked: Alexander Sak of Abdullaev Team (15th) and Mahir Zuka of NS Brotherhood International (76th). Sak won ultra heavy and the open class at the 2026 Asian Championship, and Zuka won ultra heavy at the 2025 Asian Championship, according to IBJJF results. Keep an eye on Sebastian Sonntag of Sigma Jiu-Jitsu, who sits eighth in this season's adult brown belt gi ranking and is registered at black belt in medium heavy for both events. In no-gi, Pawel Jaworski of Academia Gorila is registered at medium heavy two weeks after he won ADCC World Championship gold at 88kg in Kraków. He also won medium heavy at the 2025 No-Gi World, Pan and European Championships, and both medium heavy and the open class at the 2026 Brasileiro No-Gi.

San Antonio Fall International Open

Sun Sept 27 · Mission Concepcion Sports Park, San Antonio, TX. Event page · Official event page

16 adult black belts are registered. The highest ranked is Olivia Schauer of Tony Passos Jiu-Jitsu, ninth in the women's black belt gi ranking and the only entrant in her division, who won medium heavy at the 2026 Asian Championship and took bronze at the 2026 Pan Championship. Bruno Sena (47th, Pablo Silva BJJ), the 2026 American Nationals champion at light feather, leads a three man light feather bracket, and Six Blades brings Kalum Klausner (84th), the lone super heavy, along with Leonardo Souza (85th) at middle, who won light at the 2025 European Championship and took bronze at the 2025 Worlds.

Three veterans with major titles on their records are also entered. Ricardo “Jegue” Evangelista of GF Team, a two time European champion (2015 and 2018), the 2019 Pan champion and a world silver medalist at ultra heavy in 2015 and 2019, is one of two entrants at ultra heavy. Manuel Ribamar of Rodrigo Pinheiro, the 2019 No-Gi world champion and 2020 European champion at medium heavy, is the only entrant in his division, and teammate Thiago Macedo, the 2020 Pan champion and 2023 Asian champion at featherweight, is one of three at light. Titles are from IBJJF results.

ADCC Opens

The ADCC Petrópolis Open and ADCC Montreal Open both run Saturday from 5:00 AM PT on FloGrappling, two weeks after the ADCC World Championships in Kraków.

Pro Cards

• Fight to Win 326: Friday, 2:00 PM PT, Cleveland, Ohio. The card has not been announced.
• Elevate Submission 28: Saturday, 10:00 AM PT, San Antonio, Texas. The card has not been announced.
• LIJJN Team Series: Saturday, 11:00 AM PT, Monroe, Connecticut. Teams have not been announced.
• Finishers: Queen of the Mat: Sunday, 8:00 AM PT, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The card has not been announced.

Where to Watch

Prospect Watch: Omar Nada

Omar Tariq N. Nada sits first in the IBJJF adult brown belt gi ranking with 656 points as of September 23, more than 200 clear of second place Rafael Belmont Gamba (438). Ranking points only come from placing at IBJJF events, so a lead that size reflects a busy and winning season.

Thursday Night Results: UFC BJJ 11

UFC BJJ 11 opened the weekend on Thursday night in Las Vegas. Mikey Musumeci beat Bryce Mitchell by unanimous decision in the featherweight main event, and Mason Fowler kept his light heavyweight title when his match with Nick Rodriguez was ruled a split draw, according to the UFC. Every result is on our UFC BJJ 11 event page, and the full recap is in UFC BJJ 11 Results.

Weekend Results

Every event from this weekend is now over. Sul-Americano 2026 Results has every adult black belt podium from Barueri, and Weekend Results: September 25 to 27 has the Turin and San Antonio podiums along with links to the rest of the weekend. Every results page is listed on the Results page.

Next Weekend

The IBJJF Pan No-Gi Championship runs October 2 to 4 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey, and Polaris 39 returns to the Doncaster Dome in England on Saturday, October 3. On Friday, October 2, ONE Fight Night 48 from Bangkok includes a featherweight submission grappling match between Shoya Ishiguro and Ruan Alvarenga, in U.S. primetime on Prime Video. See every upcoming event on the calendar.