Nolan Stuart won the IBJJF Crown this weekend – an exclusive invitational only tournament inviting only the top 8 athletes in the world. It is the most prestigious event in IBJJF and his status as current Pan champion, World Champion runner up and Brazilian Nationals runner up earned him the invite.
In the opening round he took on Robson “No Break” from Alliance – the 2024 brown belt open class world champion now in his freshman year as black belt. He represented the top up and comer in the weight class. Nolan put on a dominant performance and won 8-2.
In the 2nd round he took on former world champion Lucas “Hulk” Barbosa from Atos HQ. Nolan won a unanimous referee decision and marked his first career victory over a black belt world champion.
In the final, Nolan met up with the reining 2x heavyweight world champion Adam Wardzinski from Checkmat. Wardzinski had just completed a “Grand Slam”- winning the 4 major events in BJJ in the same calendar year and had won his last 32 matches heading into the final. He was ranked #2 P4P and #1 in the weight class by IBJJFRankings.com. This match was Wardzinski’s final match before retiring.
Nolan was able to secure the victory via omoplata submission – his signature. It was a true breakout performance that cemented his status in the elite of the elite within our sport. Nolan also took home $20,000 for the win.
You can view the final here:
Nolan has been training at Brea Jiu-Jitsu since childhood and his accomplishments this weekend are the product of 13 years of work.
