IBJJF Crown: Munis And Pessanha Win 2nd Crown, Dalpra Injured
Screengrab, IBJJF Crown
Diego Pato won at the IBJJF Crown, while BJJ champ Tainan Dalpra had to bow out of the finals due to injury.
The 2024 IBJJF Crown is in the books, with six Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) champions taking over $20,000 each for winning their respective tournaments.
Among the biggest standouts in the IBJJF’s premier gi event were Diego Pato, Erich Munis and Gabi Pessanha.
Erich Munis and Gabi Pessanha tease no gi switch after second Crown
After already having eight IBJJF world titles in the last four years, Gabi Pessanha continued her historically dominant run in the gi and won her second straight IBJJF Crown. Pessanha made it look easy again, going 3-0 and submitting every opponent. She also teased finally making a move to no gi competition soon, making for an interesting next step for the dominant queen in the gi.
Much like Pessanha, Erich Munis managed to become a two-time IBJJF Crown champion on the event. The five-time world champion scored 15 points in one match, and submitted the other two opponents to win the ultra heavyweight tournament. Already a decorated champion in the gi, Munis announced plans to make the jump and join the next ADCC world championships.
Diego Pato wins crown, Tainan Dalpra injured
Diego Pato moved up in weight and won the crown at the featherweight division, proving once again why he’s among the best grapplers today. He put on a pretty impressive run with wide scores of 6-2 and 18-0 in the first two rounds, before getting a slick finish in the finals.
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Last year’s middleweight Crown winner Tainan Dalpra won two matches, including a slick triangle armbar in the semis. Unfortunately, despite the win, the popular BJJ champ couldn’t continue on to the finals due to a broken hand.
Andy Murasaki looked incredible in his two opening rounds, but the Atos product instead won the title by default and will have to wait a bit longer for another crack at his longterm rival.
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Pro BJJ scene rapidly growing, but needs work to be a better spectator sport
IBJJF followed all their traditional rules, so it naturally had the same little things that people debate or complain about there, like stalling and advantages deciding too many things. More than the scoring though, this gi event made me miss ADXC’s simple innovation of taping belts since it prevented a lot of goofy resets.
Speaking of attempts to be a better spectator sport, IBJJF Crown used two mats and had two matches running simultaneously for every round, up until the finals. It made for an event with good pacing, and made slow decisions more palatable.
We could’ve gone without that incredibly long intermission before the finals matches though, as it killed all that nice momentum.
It’s still early and the pro grappling scene is quickly growing, but seems like each of these BJJ promotions still need tweaks in both format and production, before they can deliver a complete product for general consumption.
2024 IBJJF Crown Winners, Quick Results
Featherweight (154 lbs): Diego Pato
Middleweight (181 lbs): Andy Murasaki
Heavyweight (208 lbs): Adam Wardzinski
Ultra Heavyweight (Openweight): Erich Munis
Women’s lightweight (141 lbs): Brianna Ste-Marie
Women’s super heavyweight (Openweight): Gabrieli Pessanha
Full event results, including all the silver and bronze medalists, can be found here.
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