The first major IBJJF tournament of the year is set to take place this weekend, May 15-16, as the 2021 no-gi Pans will go down just outside of Dallas, TX. Per usual, the tournament attracts many of jiu-jitsu’s top black belt competitors across all divisions. However, this weekend, all eyes will be on the ultra-stacked middleweight division, which feature’s a who’s who of elite grapplers.
Here’s the full men’s middleweight black belt division for the 2021 no-gi Pans:
| TEAM | NAME |
|---|---|
| 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu | Paul Barch |
| Alliance | Rehan Muttalib |
| Ares BJJ | Hugo Doerzapff Marques |
| Atos Jiu-Jitsu | Ronaldo Pereira de Souza Júnior |
| Breathe Jiu-Jitsu | Daniel-Shea Garcia Stolfi |
| Carlson Gracie Team | Celso Ricardo dos Reis Filho |
| CheckMat | Matheus Gabriel Pinheiro Barros |
| CheckMat | Renato Forasieppi Alves Canuto |
| CheckMat International | Tyler James Scalisi |
| Detroit Jiu-Jitsu Academy | Khalil Fadi Fadlallah |
| Double Five Highland Village | Eduardo Avelar de Carvalho |
| Fight Sports | Rodrigo Gortari Barbosa |
| GF Team | Leonardo da Silva Guimaraes |
| Gracie Barra | Joshua Aaron Bacallao |
| Gracie Barra | Saul Viayra |
| Gracie Humaita | Michael Ray Trasso |
| Luiz Palhares Jiu-Jitsu | Jeovany Anthony Ortiz |
| Renzo Gracie Academy | Giann Moramarco |
| Renzo Gracie Academy | Oliver Taza |
| Silver Fox BJJ | Enrique D. Galarza |
| Soul Fighters BJJ | Aaron Michael Joseph Wilson |
| Unity Jiu-jitsu | Felipe Cesar Silva |
| Unity Jiu-jitsu | Italo Moura de Azevedo |
Looking at the division, several names immediately jump out as potential champions. Below are the top middleweight competitors looking to make it deep into the tournament:
PJ Barch: Although he is new to IBJJF competition, 10th Planet standout PJ Barch is known as one of the better no-gi competitors in the world. He comes into the tournament following a close decision loss to Nicky Ryan at Who’s Number One. Prior to that, Barch submitted four consecutive opponents to win the Emerald City Invitational. He has an excellent wrestling base that should serve him well in points-based competition, and that pairs well with his advanced leg lock game that he’ll now be able to utilize under the new IBJJF leg reaping rules.
Oliver Taza: A Danaher Death Squad representative, Oliver Taza is a leg locking specialist that has greatly benefited from the new IBJJF leg reaping rules, and in a recent match against Gabriel Almeida, he showed much-improved wrestling. Look for Taza to do everything he can to test his opponents’ heel hook defense.
Hugo Marques – A 2018 no-gi world champion, Hugo Marques who is coming off a decision win over Taza. He is one of the division’s most accomplished IBJJF competitors, and it will be interesting to see how his elite-level guard passing will fare against some of the more modern leg attacks.
Matheus Gabriel – Checkmat’s Matheus Gabriel is just three years into his black belt career but is already an IBJJF Pans and world champion. He is coming off a double-gold performance at the New Orleans no-gi Open, in which he defeated fellow Pans competitors Tyler Scalisi and Michael Trasso by submission. Notably, the win over Scalisi came via heel hook, indicating that Gabriel may be upgrading his leg lock game.
Renato Canuto: One of the jiu-jitsu’s most exciting grapplers, Renato Canuto has used his high-flying guard passing and excellent takedown game to find success in a wide variety of rulesets, including a 2017 IBJJF no-gi world championship.
Ronaldo Junior: A top Atos competitor, Ronaldo Junior might be the division’s best guard passer. He was a 2020 Pans gi and no-gi champion. In his last appearance, Junior looked out of sorts defending leg locks against Craig Jones, so it will be interesting to see if he has been able to improve that aspect of his game when he faces more heel hook specialists.
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