The Jiu-Jitsu Pan-American comes to a close this Sunday in California, when all the black belt champions will be known. However, the other belt groups already have their winners, some of whom GRACIEMAG.com pointed out as being likely to succeed in 2010.
Lucas Rocha in photo by Ivan Trindade
Brown is the last belt before black. Among those who may make life hard on the Gentle Art’s biggest stars in the near future, Lucas Rocha (Gracie Barra) carries on doing his homework. The fighter beat all opposition at middleweight. Other brown belt standouts are Marcus Almeida “Bochecha” (CheckMat), at superheavyweight; Ian McPherson (Alliance), middleweight; Zak Maxwell (Gracie Humaitá), lightweight; and the youngest of the Langhi family, Michel (Alliance), winner at light featherweight.
Michel Langhi (right) celebrates with Bruno Malfacine and brother Michael. Photo: Ivan Trindade
At purple belt, the big name was Alec Baulding (Alliance), winner of the middleweight and absolute divisions. Another to stand out is João Gabriel (Soul Fighters), winner at medium heavyweight. Among the girls, Renzo Gracie’s dangerous student Kay Stephenson took both the medium heavyweight and absolute.
At blue belt, after winning the World Pro qualifiers in Rio, Mateus Luckmann (Alliance) took featherweight gold at the Pan. He heads to Abu Dhabi riding a wave of success. The Lloyd Irvin athletes also showed their mettle. Willie Leonard first won the ultra heavyweight, before closing out the absolute division with teammate Jackson De Alonzo. Also from Lloyd Irvin, Tracy Godell won at weight and the absolute in the female category.
And not to leave out the juvenile division, Christian Broadnax (Nova União) was top among medium heavyweights and the absolute.
Stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com for all there is to know about the Pan.