Wow, it doesn’t seem right but it is, the 2012 edition of the Pan American Jiu Jitsu Championship is at our doorstep once again and a year has passed since Rodolfo Vieira made his first big statement of 2011, winning both his weight and the open weight divisions. Even though this year the great champ will not be defending his two titles, giving preference to the World Pro Cup event happening in early April, the tournament might very well be used to launch two of his GFT team mates to the spotlight in an extremely tough lightweight division, the team mates aforementioned are Vinicius Marinho and Italo Lins who have been causing an uproar in Brazil with their offensive and eye pleasing grappling game. This lightweight division is truly stacked this year as is the featherweight division (see some of the confirmed fighters below) making this tournament definitely one of the most anticipated jiu jitsu events of the year. In anticipation, many teams such as Gracie Barra, Checkmat, Atos and Alliance have been preparing heavily for the clash next weekend.
The event will be held at the Event Centre at the University California Irvine from the 29th of March, ending on April 1st and luckily we will be able to see it all, live through the excellent broadcast (more details click on this link). Many of the world’s best fighters will be competing, here is a quick list of top athletes you should be looking out for at this year’s event:
| Rooster Weights | |
| Caio Terra | Gracie Fighter |
| Felipe Costa | Brasa |
| Rafael Freitas | Gracie Barra |
| Joseph Capizzi | Renzo Gracie |
| Fabbio Passos | Alliance |
| Koji Shibamoto | Tri Force |
| Light Featherweights | |
| Daniel Beleza | ACA/SAS |
| Bruno Malfacine | Alliance |
| Andre Monteiro | Revolution Team |
| Guilherme Mendes | Atos |
| Pablo Silva | Gracie Barra |
| Samir Chantre | Gracie Fighter |
| Featherweights | |
| Rubens Charles | Alliance |
| Mike Fowler | Atos |
| Rafael Mendes | Atos |
| Renan Borges | BTT |
| Mayko Borges | Checkmat |
| Justin Rader | Lovato JJ |
| Lightweights | |
| Rafael Rosendo | Alliance |
| Rodrigo Caporal | Atos |
| Italo Lins | GFTeam |
| Vinicius Marinho | GFTeam |
| Claudio Mattos | Gracie Barra |
| Philipe “Furão” | Gracie Barra |
| Zak Maxwell | Gracie Humaita |
| Leandro Ló | Cicero Costha |
| JT Torres | Lloyd Irvin |
| Middle Weights | |
| Gabriel Goulart | Alliance |
| Claudio Calasans | Atos |
| Everton Santana | Barbosa |
| Marcos de Souza | Bonsai |
| Clark Gracie | Carley Gracie BJJ |
| Marcelo Mafra “Lapela” | Checkmat |
| Abmar Barbosa | Drysdale BJJ |
| Jake Mackenzie | GFTeam |
| Victor Estima | Gracie Barra |
| Kron Gracie | Rickson Gracie JJ |
| Medium Heavyweights | |
| André Galvao | Atos |
| Diego Gamonal | BTT |
| Kayron Gracie | Gracie Barra |
| Romulo Barral | Gracie Barra |
| Rafael Lovato Jr | Lovato JJ |
| Heavyweights | |
| Fabiano Junior | Alliance |
| Lucas Leite | Checkmat |
| Yuri Simoes | Checkmat |
| Renan Vital | Gordo/Evolve |
| Roberto Alencar | Gracie Barra |
| Super Heavy Weights | |
| Bernardo Faria | Alliance |
| Antonio Carlos Junior | Checkmat |
| Joao Assis | Checkmat |
| Ultra Heavyweights | |
| Alexander Trans | Checkmat |
| Marcus Almeida “Buchecha” | Checkmat |
| Ricardo Evangelista | GFTeam |
| Gustavo Dias | Gracie Humaita |
The broadcast of the event starts on Thursday the 29th with the white belts and blue belts, it continues through Friday with more white and blue belt action before the purple belts roll into play. On Saturday the event really picks up with the black belts being added to the broadcast starting with the open weight and the rest of the weight divisions on Sunday.
2012 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship Schedule
The event kicks off every day at 9:00am (Californian time).
Thursday – 29/Mar/2012
| 9:00 AM | Blue Adult Male – Rooster to Feather |
| 11:15 AM | Blue Adult Male – Light and Middle |
| 1:30 PM | Blue Adult Male – Medium Heavy to Ultra Heavy |
| 3:00 PM | White Adult Male – Rooster and Light Feather |
| White Adult Female | |
| 4:00 PM | White Adult Male – Feather and Light |
| 5:00 PM | White Adult Male – Middle to Ultra Heavy |
| White Master – Rooster to Light | |
| 6:10 PM | White Master – Middle to Ultra Heavy |
| White Senior – Rooster to Heavy | |
| 6:40 PM | White Senior – Super Heavy and Ultra Heavy |
| Blue Adult Male – Open Class |
Friday – 30/Mar/2012
| 9:00 AM | Purple Adult Male – Rooster to Feather |
| Purple Adult Female | |
| 10:30 AM | Purple Adult Male – Light and Middle |
| 12:00 PM | Purple Adult Male – Medium Heavy to Ultra Heavy |
| Blue Adult Female – Light Feather to Light | |
| 1:45 PM | Blue Adult Female – Middle to Heavy |
| Blue Master Male – Rooster to Middle | |
| 2:45 PM | Blue Master Male – Medium Heavy to Ultra Heavy |
| Blue Master Female – Light Feather to Light | |
| 3:40 PM | Blue Master Female – Middle to Heavy |
| Blue Senior 1 – Rooster to Medium Heavy | |
| 4:30 PM | Blue Senior 1 – Heavy to Ultra Heavy |
| Blue Senior 2 | |
| Blue Senior 3 – Rooster to Middle | |
| 5:20 PM | Blue Senior 3 – Medium Heavy to Ultra Heavy |
| Blue Senior 4 and 5 | |
| Purple Adult Male – Open Class | |
| Purple Adult Female – Open Class | |
| Blue Adult Female – Open Class | |
| 6:30 PM | Blue Master Male Open Class |
| Blue Master Female – Open Class | |
| Blue Senior 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 – Open Class |
Saturday – 31/Mar/2012
| 9:00 AM | Purple Master Male – Rooster to Middle |
| Purple Master Female | |
| 10:20 AM | Purple Master Male – Medium Heavy to Ultra Heavy |
| Purple Senior 1 – Rooster to Middle | |
| 11:20 AM | Purple Senior 1 – Medium Heavy to Ultra Heavy |
| Purple Senior 2 | |
| Purple Senior 3 – Rooster to Middle | |
| 12:10 PM | Purple Senior 3 – Medium Heavy to Ultra Heavy |
| Purple Senior 4 and 5 | |
| Brown Master – Rooster to Light | |
| 12:45 PM | Brown Master – Middle to Ultra Heavy |
| Brown Senior 1 | |
| Black Adult Male – Open Class Registration | |
| Black Adult Female – Open Class Registration | |
| 1:25 PM | Brown Senior 2 |
| Brown Senior 3 | |
| 1:45 PM | Black Adult Male – End of Open Class Registration |
| Black Adult Female – End of Open Class Registration | |
| 2:00 PM | Brown Senior 4 and 5 |
| Blue Juvenile 1 Male | |
| Blue Juvenile 2 Male | |
| 2:40 PM | Black Adult Male – Open Class |
| Black Adult Female – Open Class | |
| Blue Juvenile 1 Female | |
| Blue Juvenile 2 Female | |
| White Juvenile 1 Male | |
| White Juvenile 2 Male | |
| White Juvenile 1 Female | |
| White Juvenile 2 Female | |
| Purple Juvenile | |
| 3:10 PM | Black Master Male |
| Black Master Female | |
| 4:10 PM | Black Senior 1 |
| Black Senior 2 – Rooster to Light | |
| 5:00 PM | Black Senior 2 – Middle to Ultra Heavy |
| Black Senior 3, 4 and 5 | |
| 5:45 PM | Purple Master Male – Open Class |
| Purple Senior 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 – Open Class | |
| Purple Master Female – Open Class | |
| Brown Master – Open Class | |
| Brown Senior 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 – Open Class | |
| 7:00 PM | Black Master Male – Open Class |
| Black Master Female – Open Class | |
| Black Senior 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 – Open Class | |
| Blue Juvenile 1 and 2 Male – Open Class | |
| Blue Juvenile 1 and 2 Female – Open Class | |
| Purple Juvenile – Open Class |
Sunday – 01/Abr/2012
| 9:00 AM | Brown Adult Male – Rooster to Feather |
| Black Adult Male – Rooster to Feather | |
| 10:35 AM | Brown Adult Male – Light |
| Brown Adult Female | |
| Black Adult Male – Light and Middle | |
| 12:35 PM | Brown Adult Male – Middle |
| Black Adult Male – Medium Heavy to Super Heavy | |
| 2:00 PM | Brown Adult Male Medium Heavy to Ultra Heavy |
| Black Adult Male – Ultra Heavy | |
| Black Adult Female | |
| 3:45 PM | Brown Adult Female – Open Class |
| Black Belt Finals | |
| Brown Adult Male – Open Class |
I have been looking for admission info to just come watch but I can’t find it anywhere!
Hi Ira, I believe the registration deadline was the 23rd of March, but I am not sure. Check their website
if its the same as last year thu – fri 10 sat 15 sun 20