The IBJJF Opens weekend put Brazilian black belts atop the podium on both sides of the continent. In Rio de Janeiro, the Rio Spring International Open kept the mats busy from Friday to Sunday, with gi and no-gi action. In the United States, Saturday brought the Ft. Lauderdale International Open in Florida and the Sacramento Fall International Open in California, where familiar names on the circuit added more gold medals to their collections.
IBJJF OPENS: ROBERTO ‘CYBORG’ DE ABREU WINS FOUR GOLDS AND LARISSA DIAS TAKES THREE IN FT. LAUDERDALE
In Ft. Lauderdale, Larissa Dias left no room for anyone. The black belt won the gi super-heavyweight division. In no-gi, she took gold at super-heavyweight and in the open class. That made three gold medals in a single day. The only title that got away was the gi open class: in the final, Larissa was stopped by Iris Nascimento, who had already won middleweight gold earlier that day. Larissa had already shone alongside her twin brother this season, when the two celebrated the titles they won together at the Pans.
Her brother also had reason to celebrate in Florida. Enderson Dias took gold in the gi heavyweight division, in a bracket that had Luccas Lira as runner-up. Luccas, as it turned out, was also a roadblock for another of the day’s champions: Roberto ‘Cyborg’, who won ultra-heavyweight and the open class in both gi and no-gi. A veteran who swept the adult division. In both open class finals, Roberto got the better of Luccas himself, closing out the day with four gold medals of his own.
Ft. Lauderdale also saw Matheus Fonseca win lightfeatherweight gold in both gi and no-gi, Felipe Carlos finish on top at lightweight and Igor Nascimento take the gi middleweight title. At medium-heavyweight, Gabriel Silva Costa beat Marco Antônio de Souza in the final. In no-gi, Victor Delibero won featherweight, and Gabriele da Silva Schuck took gold in the women’s middleweight division, in a final against Monique Lopes Maier.
RIO SPRING CROWNS FILIPINHO ASSIS AND LIVIA BARASINE, AND ADALBERTO PADILLA WINS NO-GI DOUBLE GOLD
At Rio Spring, the big names of the gi tournament were Luiz Felipe Assis, known as Filipinho, champion at heavyweight and in the open class, and Livia Barasine Correa, who won medium-heavyweight and the open class. Livia then returned to the mats for no-gi, winning medium-heavyweight and taking bronze in the open class. Facundo Hernan Ciancio also pulled off a double, this time across both formats: he won middleweight in gi and no-gi.
The other adult black belt gi champions in Rio were Ítalo Almeida at lightfeatherweight, Marcos Paulo de Amorim at featherweight, Arthur Silva Carvalhaes at lightweight, Lucas Dias da Silva at medium-heavyweight, Lucas ‘Coruja’ at super-heavyweight and Pablo dos Santos Cruz at ultra-heavyweight. On the women’s side, the top step of the podium went to Jessica Caroline, Elisa do Carmo Brito da Cruz, Angela Paz Correa Alarcón, Natacha Ribeiro and Carol Kerr.
In no-gi, the standout on the men’s side was Adalberto Hipólito Padilla, who won super-heavyweight and the open class, beating heavyweight champion Victor Gabriel Ataíde in the open class final. The no-gi event also produced gold for Diogo ‘Baby Shark’ Reis, who submitted every opponent on his way to the featherweight title, plus Rodrigo ‘Braguinha’ at lightweight, Yuri Hendrex at lightfeatherweight, Darlan Casaca at medium-heavyweight and Jhonatan Costa at ultra-heavyweight.
In women’s no-gi, Milena Lima da Silva won super-heavyweight and the open class, with heavyweight champion Julia Kalliane finishing as runner-up in the open. Carol Brunacio took lightweight gold, and Alexia de Castro Oliveira was the middleweight champion. Carol and Darlan, by the way, are registered for the IBJJF No-Gi Europeans, set for October 28 to November 1 on the coast of Rome.
IN SACRAMENTO, LEONARDO VILELA AND THIERRY FELIPE SHINE IN GI AND NO-GI
In California, Leonardo de Barros Vilela owned the featherweight division in both formats. Thierry Felipe won the gi open class, with Francisco Papasidero as runner-up, and then won no-gi ultra-heavyweight. Marco Mendes pulled off a double in the no-gi tournament, with gold at lightweight and in the open class. In the gi, Cícero Lívio Ribeiro Paiva won lightfeatherweight, Eduardo Vieira won lightweight and João Venancio won medium-heavyweight.
Among the women, Luana Magalhães took gi featherweight gold, and Beatriz Gutierrez Campos won no-gi lightweight and finished runner-up in the open class. The full list of champions from each tournament is available on the IBJJF results page.
This article was originally published in Portuguese: read the original version.
