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IBJJF Pan Championship
The Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Pan American Championship (commonly known as Pan Ams or Pans), is the largest Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament held in the Americas. The event is held annually by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. History Representing one of the first steps toward international expansion of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the Pan-American Championship has been held annually since 1995. While the first event garnered only 250 athletes, the event has grown yearly with the 2022 edition in Florida reporting over 4,600 jiu-jitsu athletes registered to compete. The tournament was originally held in Brazil but moved to the United States in 2007, reflecting the global expansion of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and its growing popularity in North America. Evolution of the Event The Pan Championship is one of the four IBJJF Grand Slam events, which include the European Championship, Brazilian Nationals, and Worlds. The IBJJF assigns a ranking weigh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States asserts sovereignty over five Territories of the United States, major island territories and United States Minor Outlying Islands, various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. It is a megadiverse country, with the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest land area and List of countries and dependencies by population, third-largest population, exceeding 340 million. Its three Metropolitan statistical areas by population, largest metropolitan areas are New York metropolitan area, New York, Greater Los Angeles, Los Angel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irvine, California
Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 1971. The city had a population of 318,629 as of June 2025. As of 2025, it is the third most populous city in Orange County, fifth most in the Greater Los Angeles region, and List of United States cities by population, 72th most in the United States. A number of corporations, particularly in the technology and semiconductor sectors, have their national or international headquarters in Irvine. Irvine is also home to several higher-education institutions including the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Concordia University Irvine, Concordia University, Irvine Valley College, and campuses of University of La Verne and Pepperdine University. History Kizh era Gabrieleño in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nino Schembri
Antônio "Nino" Schembri (; born June 1, 1974, in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and former mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. He is a former member of the Chute Boxe Academy and currently trains with Black House (MMA), Black House. Schembri is highly accomplished in sport BJJ, having won the 1996 Brazilian National Championship in the absolute division world championships in his weight class back to back in 1997/1998. Schembri has a unique style of Jiu-Jitsu with focus on submission and creative attacks. At 1999 Pan-American he had phenomenal wins and became known as "El Nino", in analogy to the natural phenomenon El Niño. Schembri is sometimes nicknamed "Elvis" because he is an Elvis Presley fan and used to mimic some of Elvis's dance moves to celebrate his victories. Today, Schembri teaches at his own gym located in Lawndale, California. Biography Antônio Schembri was born into an Italian Brazilian family in Rio de Janeiro. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryan Gracie
Ryan Gracie (August 13, 1974 – December 15, 2007) was a Brazilian mixed martial artist with a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was a member of the Gracie family and a grandson of Carlos Gracie. Career Ryan trained with his brothers, Renzo Gracie and Ralph Gracie; the latter often served as his cornerman. He also trained Pancrase fighter Gabriel Vella and jiu-jitsu world champion Fabio Leopoldo while in Brazil. Gracie had seven fights in the PRIDE organization, with his first at PRIDE 10 in 2000 and his most recent at PRIDE Shockwave 2004. PRIDE billed Ryan as the "bad boy" of the family who reputedly gained experience fighting in the streets of Brazil. In interviews in 2004, Gracie expressed a strong interest in fighting Kazushi Sakuraba and Hidehiko Yoshida. Sakuraba, known as the "Gracie Hunter" for his many victories over the Gracie family, defeated Ryan earlier with a decision win in 2000. Ryan was the leader and head coach of Gracie São Paulo, one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saulo Ribeiro
Saulo Mendonça Ribeiro Filho (born July 2, 1974) is a Brazilian submission grappler and former mixed martial artist. He is a 6th-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and brother of Xande Ribeiro. After earning a black belt in judo, he began his training of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Rio de Janeiro under Royler Gracie, the son of Hélio Gracie, at Gracie Humaitá. Ribeiro received his black belt in BJJ on November 27, 1995. Less than two years later, he won his first MMA fight. He also won the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship five times, in several weight classes. Biography Saulo Ribeiro was born in Manaus, Brazil on July 2, 1974. At the age of 15 and already a judo practitioner, Ribeiro started training jiu-jitsu as a way to improve his judo game by learning submissions. He moved away from home in December 1991 and headed to school in Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro is where Ribeiro began his training under Royler Gracie at Gracie Humaitá. Shortly after receiving his bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royler Gracie
Royler Gracie (born December 6, 1965) is a Brazilian-American retired mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner. Gracie ran the Gracie Humaitá school in Rio de Janeiro for many years under his father Helio's direction, and lives and teaches in San Diego, California. Considered a legend of jiu jitsu and submission wrestling, Gracie is a member of both the IBJJF Hall of Fame, and the ADCC Hall of Fame. Biography As son to the late Grandmaster, Helio Gracie and brother of Rickson and Royce Gracie, Royler is a member of the Gracie family. He holds an 8th degree red/black belt in the style pioneered by his family, Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Prior to his retirement, Royler competed in the black-belt ranks for 20+ years. Royler is also a four-time World Jiu-Jitsu Champion in the Pena/Featherweight Black Belt Category and has placed in the Absolute Division. Royler has a professional mixed martial arts record of five wins, five losses and one d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rigan Machado
Rigan Machado (born 2 July 1966) is a Brazilian-American martial arts instructor. He is an 8th degree red and White belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, earning his rank under Carlos Gracie Jr. He is a former Pan American Champion (1996, 1997 weight and absolute) and a veteran medalist of the ADCC. Machado currently teaches out of his Beverly Hills, California, academy and is instructor to several Los Angeles–based celebrity students. Biography Machado was born in Rio de Janeiro, and is one of five brothers in the Machado family. He began training at the age of five with his cousins, "The Gracie Family". In an interview, when asked about his exact relationship with the Gracies, he said: "My mother's sister married the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Carlos Gracie." Machado was awarded the first black belt under Gracie Barra founder Carlos Gracie Jr. and is one of the original teachers who taught in the garage of Rorion Gracie in the early days of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Ame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandre Paiva
Alexandre "Gigi" Paiva (born March 4, 1967, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a long standing figure, having been involved in Jiu Jitsu since the early 1980s, in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu community who has made a number of important contributions to the sport which are referenced below. He began training when he was 15 years old in Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti's school, where he was considered to be one of the academy's most technically gifted students, and received his Black Belt in 1993. In addition to being an outstanding competitive athlete winning the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 1x at Adult level and 4x at Masters level he also, alongside Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti and Fabio Gurgel, co-founded the Alliance Jiu Jitsu Team which has gone on to become the most successful competitive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team of all time. The following athletes are included in the list of IBJJF World Champions he has trained - Fernando Augusto, Leo Leite, his son Victor Genovesi and Ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcio Feitosa
Marcio Feitosa (May 16, 1976) is a Brazilian 6th degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He has learned directly from Carlos Gracie Jr., founder of the Gracie Barra Academy in Rio de Janeiro. He has risen to the podium eight times from 1997 to 2006 at several world championships. In 2013, Feitosa was ranked one of the Top 10 fighters of all time by the BJJ Heroes website. Throughout his career he has collected many titles such as the IBJJF World Championship, the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship, the Brazilian Nationals and the Pan-Americans. He is one of the strongest competitors of his generation having won against fighters such as Urijah Faber, Léo Vieira, Vítor Ribeiro, Royler Gracie and Leonardo Santos. Since the age of 15 he has been acting as a teacher, starting as an assistant instructor. He is the co-founder of the Gracie Barra Headquarters in Irvine, California and the executive director of Gracie Barra Brasil. Early life Marcio Feitosa was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
João Roque
João Manuel Roque (born July 22, 1971) is a Portuguese-Angolan former featherweight Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) black belt World Champion and a retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the Featherweight division in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). His first coaches of BJJ were Marcio Pinheiro and Gerson Velasco, and he stayed under their guidance until he was a purple belt. It was under prestigious Osvaldo Alves, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Red Belt and a legend in the sport of BJJ, that Joao Roque graduated to brown belt. When Master Oswaldo had to move to Manaus Roque joined André Pederneiras, right at the start of the Nova União. Joao Roque began his MMA career in 1996 in the United States (Oklahoma) with a win by armbar. He retired in 2005 in the Japan (Tokyo) with a loss by decision. Today he lives in Brasília, capital of Brazil. Roque went on to form one of the strongest teams in that state and his gym "Clube Vizinhança" still runs today. BJJ lineage Mitsuyo Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vinicius Magalhães (Draculino)
Vinicius Bittencourt Almeida Magalhães (born July 30, 1971) is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sixth degree black belt under Carlos Gracie, Jr. and also at the same time a brown belt in Judo, and a Muay Thai expert. He has been teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for over 18 years. He has instructed mixed martial arts and grappling champions. Draculino has produced such talent as Joaquim Ferreira, Romulo Barral, Alberto Crane, Marcelo Azevedo, Cristiano Titi, and Samuel Braga. Draculino grew up with Ryan Gracie, Ralph Gracie, and Renzo Gracie, taking classes under both Jean Jacques Machado and Carlos Gracie, Jr. at the original Gracie Barra Academy. He began competition early, earning championships from the blue belt upwards. In 2007, Draculino, Ryan Gracie, and Roberto Gordo founded Gracie Fusion MMA team. The unexpected death of Ryan put the fledgling team in question, but Draculino and Gordo kept the team active in tribute to Ryan's memory. Vinicius previously signed a two-fight cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter city, Long Beach is the List of cities and towns in California, 7th-most populous city in California, the List of cities in Los Angeles County, California, 2nd-most populous city in Los Angeles County, and the largest city in California that is not a county seat. Incorporated in 1897, Long Beach lies in Southern California, in the southern part of Los Angeles County. Long Beach is approximately south of downtown Los Angeles, and is part of the Gateway Cities region. The Port of Long Beach is the second busiest container port in the United States and is among the world's largest shipping ports. The city is over Long Beach Oil Field, an oilfield with minor wells both directly beneath the city as well as offshore. The city is known for its wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
