The rosters for the 2021 IBJJF Pan Championship are stacked with returning champions, fan favorites, and rookies looking to break out. Some of the divisions have clear cut favorites to win gold, while others are harder to call. Here are our predictions for the favorites to reach the top of the podium, the dark horses who could steal the show, and the disruptors who could make things difficult for their division cohorts.

Johnatha Alves was able to stop the surging Mica Galvao and claimed $10,000 in the process. Keenan Cornelius has pulled out of WNO but one of his black belts has stepped up to replace him, and a well-known champion from the women’s divisions will make her MMA debut. All this and more in this week’s Grappling Bulletin,.

Gordon Ryan and Andre Galvao got physical backstage at WNO and the slap was heard around the world. The real question is where do we go from here? 

The opening day of the 2020 IBJJF American Nationals was filled with upsets, blowouts, and close, gritty matches. Here were some of the best matches from the first day of Nationals: