Luiz Panza - Elite BJJ Black Belt and Coach

Luiz Panza is a BJJ Black Belt from Brazil. He is among the top heavyweight champions of his generation. He received his Black Belt from Marco Barbosinha Barbosa who himself is a famous BJJ Black Belt. Barbosa runs his BJJ academy in São Paulo called Barbosa Jiu Jitsu.

He was born on 2nd February 1990 in the North side of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was brought up in a moderate environment. He was a very enthusiastic child so his family decided to enroll him in martial arts.

At the age of 7, he started learning Kungfu. He was a smart and fast learner.

After Kungfu, he moved to Karate (Shotokan). He practiced Karate for many years and even got a Black Belt in it.

Luiz always wanted to compete in martial arts. He was interested in BJJ. At the age of 15, he wanted to enroll in a gym to properly learn BJJ but could not afford it.

At the age of 16, when he got some money he went to Lotus Academy and enquired if he could train there. As the money was not sufficient to take long classes, he started sparring with the BJJ practitioners in the sparring sessions. It improved his BJJ a lot.

When he was training in the sparring sessions, he got into a fight with a guy. He hurt the other guy. And was forbidden from BJJ training by his mother. His mother was of the view that BJJ made him more violent and aggressive.

His best friend, Felipe Marques, who also trained in BJJ convinced his mother to let Luiz train in BJJ.

In 2012, along with BJJ, Panza had an impressive career in modeling. But to pursue BJJ, he left modeling and gave his focus only to BJJ.

In 2007, Luiz started training with Coach Edilberto da Ponte of the A.O.A Team. Luiz received his Blue and Purple Belts under Ponte’s supervision. Luiz regularly participated in the training sessions.

When he reached the Purple Belt Level, he switched to Barbosa Jiu-Jitsu. He joined a new team because he was looking for a more competitive team. On 17 December 2012, he received his Brown and Black Belts.

In 2014, when he moved to the United States, he joined the Checkmat Academy.

Luiz won the 1st position at the IBJJF Pan Championship in 2014 and 2016.

He won the 3rd position at the IBJJF Brazilian Nationals in 2013.

Luiz Panza secured 1st place at the 2013 IBJJF Pan No-Gi Championship in the Absolute weight category.

Johnny Goncalves is also an excellent grappler like Luiz Panza. Luiz Panza faced Johnny Goncalves in the Open Weight category in the IBJJF Pan American Championship. He defeated Johnny with the Armbar. Johnny tried to grip Luiz tightly but he escaped and applied a leglock. Johnny strangled Quiz many times and got the submission.

This was an epic fight. Panza started the fight by pulling a guard but unfortunately, it was reversed by Peroto. He then applied the leg locks but they got inverted. He then applied the triangle choke and Peroto finally submitted.

He submitted Peroto in only 2 minutes and 7 seconds in the quarter final.

In the 2016 IBJJF Pan American Championship, Plaza defeated Alexander Ceconi who is a 3 times World Champion and 2 times Brazilian National Champion. The fighting style of Panza was very intense and offensive. He started the fight by applying a knee bar on his strong opponent.

He then applied a foot lock from the 50/50 guard. He got the submission from the foot lock in only 1 min 30 seconds.

At the 2013 Pre-Pans FPJJ competition, Panza defeated Diogo Almeida by applying the Rear Naked Choke. The fight started from the guard position. The fight was intense. Panza tried to submit Almeida with the leg locks but being a strong and fast player Almeida escaped from it. Finally, Panza submitted his opponent by the deadly Rear Naked Choke submission.

Closed Guard being their favorite technique of Panza, he initiated the match by applying the closed guard. He did not let his opponent grab him for long as he reversed the position. Panza won the match by applying Mounted Triangle.

Panza’s opponent, Ricardo Evangelista, is one of the top BJJ Black Belts. Panza defeated his opponent with the Armbar submission. The grip strength of the Panza was very strong. It only took 8 minutes and 30 seconds for Panza to submit Victor Rodrigues.

• IBJJF World No-Gi Champion
• 2 times IBJJF Pan Champion (2014, 2016)
• 2 times IBJJF World Champion (2013, 2017)

On the birth of his 1st child in 2018, Panza decided to become a grappling instructor. He opened his own BJJ gym in 2019, Academia Panza Jiu-Jitsu which is also called Checkmat Rolling Hills.

Luiz Panza VS Wellington Peroto / World Championship 2019

Luiz Panza VS Alexandro Ceconi / Pan Championship 2016

Luiz Panza vs. Rodrigo Faria: 2013 Abu Dhabi World Pro East Coast Trials

Ronnie Wuest 2013 Abu Dhabi finals match against Luiz Panza

Photo Credit: @luizpanza