- Event
- Pan IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship 2026, 20th edition
- Dates
- October 2-4, 2026
- Venue
- Meadowlands Exposition Center, Secaucus, New Jersey
- Double gold
- Pawel Jaworski (medium heavy and open class), Sarah Galvao (middle and open class)
- Adult male team
- Art of Jiu-Jitsu, 52 points
- Adult female team
- Atos Jiu-Jitsu, 37 points
- Master overall
- Renzo Gracie
Thirty-Second Breakdown
Pawel Jaworski won the medium heavyweight final by triangle choke, then went back out and won the open class on a referee decision. That double gold was not just a good weekend. It also completed his set: Jaworski has now won all four IBJJF no-gi majors at adult black belt, having taken European No-Gi in 2025. He is three weeks removed from an ADCC world title, he is the IBJJF's top-ranked no-gi athlete, and he goes back to Rome on October 28 as the defending European champion.
The Grand Slam Math
The four IBJJF no-gi majors are World No-Gi, Brasileiro No-Gi, Pan No-Gi and European No-Gi. Per the IBJJF's own athlete record, Jaworski has won every one of them at adult black belt: European No-Gi in 2025 with double gold in Rome, No-Gi Worlds in 2025, No-Gi Pans in both 2025 and 2026, and the Brasileiro No-Gi in 2026. He also sits at number one in the IBJJF's No-Gi and No-Gi Grand Slam rankings.
What is still live is a single-year sweep. Inside the 2026 calendar he holds Brasileiro and Pan. European No-Gi runs October 28 to November 1 and No-Gi Worlds follows on December 10, so if he wins both he takes all four majors within one year, in the same season he won ADCC gold at 88kg in Kraków. The Grand Slam is an IBJJF designation covering IBJJF events, so his ADCC title sits alongside it rather than inside it. Either way, nobody else on the current no-gi circuit is holding that hand.
What We Got Wrong, and What the Finals Actually Showed
Our preview asked a specific question: Jaworski won ADCC gold in a 0-0 final, a match decided by denying his opponent anything rather than by scoring, and IBJJF no-gi actively rewards passing and positional advancement. Would a game built to win a stalemate translate to a format that pays for progress?
He answered it by submitting the man in front of him. A triangle choke in the weight final is not a points-management answer, it is a finish, and it suggests the Kraków final said more about Marlon Tajik's defense than about any ceiling on Jaworski's offense. The open class went the other way, a referee decision over heavyweight champion Wallisson Oliveira Souza, which is closer to the control-first read. Both versions of him showed up in the same weekend.
The broader thesis held up better than we had any right to expect. Of the ADCC Kraków athletes we flagged as competing on short rest, Jaworski went double gold, Sarah Galvao went double gold, and Helena Crevar, who beat Anabel Lopez Beard in the ADCC +65kg final, won super heavyweight here by ankle lock. Lopez Beard, who we also named, does not appear on a black belt podium. Three weeks of recovery was apparently enough for most of that group, which is not the result conventional wisdom would predict after a two-day world championship.
Sarah Galvao's Second Run
Galvao arrived having lost the ADCC 65kg final to Ana Carolina Vieira, a result that reversed her own earlier win over Vieira at CJI 2. She left Secaucus with middleweight gold on a 3-1 advantage and the open class on a 12-2 points win, which makes her a three-time Pan No-Gi champion across only two appearances at the event. Her open class final was the most decisive scoreline of either open bracket.
The Closeout at Super Heavyweight
Super heavyweight went to Nata Tenca Lima over Andre Galvao, and the IBJJF recorded the final as a closeout, meaning the two Atos teammates did not compete and agreed the placement between them. Closeouts are a long-running IBJJF convention and a long-running argument: they protect teammates from having to fight each other, and they also hand a bracket's final to a decision made off the mat. For anyone who bought a ticket hoping to watch Andre Galvao in a no-gi final, it was a flat ending to the division.
Men's Black Belt Podiums
| Division | Gold | Silver | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rooster | Lucas de Souza Castro (Gracie Barra) | Christopher Tran (Team Lloyd Irvin) | 2-1 advantage |
| Light Feather | Vinicius Gomes Inacio (Alliance) | Edwin Ocasio (Unity) | 6-4 points |
| Feather | Emilio Hernandez Rodriguez (Zenith) | Steven Gomez (AOJ) | Heel hook |
| Light | Pierre-Olivier Leclerc (Tri-Star Montreal) | Guilherme Fernandes (AOJ) | 2-0 advantage |
| Middle | Elijah Dorsey (Team Lloyd Irvin) | Tarik Hopstock (Frontline) | Armlock |
| Medium Heavy | Pawel Jaworski (Academia Gorila) | David Garmo (Detroit JJ Syndicate) | Triangle choke |
| Heavy | Wallisson Oliveira Souza (Campeao United) | Austin Oranday (Alliance) | 8-0 points |
| Super Heavy | Nata Tenca Lima (Atos) | Andre Galvao (Atos) | Closeout |
| Ultra Heavy | Alexandre Papa Manara (Lotus Club) | Sean Goolsby (Esporte Dez) | Heel hook |
| Open Class | Pawel Jaworski (Academia Gorila) | Wallisson Oliveira Souza (Campeao United) | Referee decision |
Women's Black Belt Podiums
| Division | Gold | Silver | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rooster | Mariana Cabral Rolszt (Gracie Humaita) | Gabrielle Etzel (Upper Twelve) | Referee decision |
| Light Feather | Emily Leyva (Atos) | Karen Terra (Titanium) | Aoki lock |
| Feather | Sabrina Gondim (Fight Sports) | Cindy Ung (Balance) | 1-0 advantage |
| Light | Amanda Bruse (Corvus) | Jenna Garcia (10th Planet Sacramento) | Straight ankle lock |
| Middle | Sarah Galvao (Atos) | Nadia Frankland (Corvus) | 3-1 advantage |
| Medium Heavy | Martyna Kapuscinska (Academia Gorila) | Fernanda Cristo (Celso Ricardo) | Heel hook |
| Heavy | Maia Matalon (High Noon BJJ) | Sa'idah Durkee (Team Lloyd Irvin) | Darce choke |
| Super Heavy | Helena Crevar (Kingsway) | Sara Resetar (TDBJJ) | Ankle lock |
| Open Class | Sarah Galvao (Atos) | Maria Vitoria Ruffatto-Gilpin (Canby) | 12-2 points |
One local note, since Secaucus is the most accessible major IBJJF event of the year for anyone in the New York and New Jersey corridor: Cindy Ung of Balance, the Philadelphia academy, took silver at women's feather in a final decided by a single advantage. Philadelphia and South Jersey gyms do not often show up on an international black belt podium, and that one was a point away from gold.
Submissions Over Scorelines
Nine of the nineteen black belt finals listed above ended by submission rather than points, advantages, a referee decision, or a closeout. Three of them were heel hooks, which is the number to watch if you are tracking how far leg entanglements have moved into the IBJJF no-gi mainstream. The rest ran through a triangle, a darce, two ankle locks including a straight ankle lock, an armlock, and an aoki lock.
That is a high finishing rate for a points-based ruleset, and it is the part of the weekend that argues against the usual complaint about IBJJF no-gi being a positional grind. If you want the rules context for why the leg lock numbers matter under this ruleset and not another, we broke that down in IBJJF versus ADCC leg lock rules.
What's Next
European No-Gi, October 28 to November 1, PalaPellicone in Lido di Ostia, Rome. Registration is already at capacity. Jaworski is the defending champion there. A win would give him European No-Gi back to back and keep a single-year sweep of all four majors alive into December. We will have a preview before the brackets drop.
Correction, October 19, 2026: this article originally said Jaworski held three of the four IBJJF no-gi majors and still needed European No-Gi. He won European No-Gi in 2025, so he had already won all four at adult black belt. The error came from an IBJJF news item that listed only two of his titles; we have corrected the piece against the IBJJF athlete record.
Related
Our No-Gi Pans 2026 Preview · ADCC Worlds 2026 Results · Leg Lock Rules: IBJJF vs ADCC · Gi vs No-Gi Competition Rules · BJJ Techniques Glossary
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the 2026 IBJJF No-Gi Pan Championship?
Pawel Jaworski of Academia Gorila won both the medium heavyweight division, by triangle choke, and the open class, by referee decision. Sarah Galvao of Atos won both middleweight and the women's open class. Art of Jiu-Jitsu took the adult male team title with 52 points and Atos took the adult female title with 37.
What is the IBJJF No-Gi Grand Slam?
Winning all four IBJJF no-gi majors: World No-Gi, Brasileiro No-Gi, Pan No-Gi and European No-Gi. Jaworski has won all four at adult black belt, including European No-Gi in 2025, and he tops the IBJJF's No-Gi Grand Slam ranking. What remains open is a single-calendar-year sweep: he has Brasileiro and Pan for 2026 and would need European No-Gi in Rome plus No-Gi Worlds in December.
Did the ADCC Worlds competitors do well three weeks later?
Mostly yes. Jaworski and Sarah Galvao both went double gold, and Helena Crevar won super heavyweight. Anabel Lopez Beard, who lost the ADCC +65kg final to Crevar, did not reach a black belt podium.
Why was the super heavyweight final a closeout?
Nata Tenca Lima and Andre Galvao both train at Atos. Under the long-standing IBJJF closeout convention, teammates in a final may decline to compete and settle the placement between themselves. Tenca took gold and Galvao silver.
When is the next major no-gi event?
European No-Gi, October 28 to November 1, 2026, at PalaPellicone in Lido di Ostia, Rome. Registration has reached capacity.
Sources
- IBJJF: Pan IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship 2026 full results
- IBJJF: 2026 Pan No-Gi Championship results breakdown
- IBJJF: Pawel pursues Grand Slam title
- BJJ TV: Jaworski double golds as Crevar and Galvao crown black belts
- FloGrappling: 2026 Pan No-Gi results, podiums and team standings
- IBJJF: European No-Gi Championship 2026
Forca Fight Lab commentary represents independent technical analysis from the Forca Method team. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with the IBJJF, or with any athlete named in this piece.