The IBJJF Miami Fall Open 2023 took place across the weekend of November 4th and 5th, 2023, attracting several of the sport’s biggest names to compete. Joao Rocha was among those competing in the gi on the first day, and he had to battle through two tough opponents in the lightweight division in order to make it to the top of the podium. Enderson Dias also put in a memorable performance, winning the only match in the super-heavyweight division and returning later in the day to compete in the absolute division. He couldn’t replicate the same success there, although he did manage to come away with a silver medal against some pretty tough opposition.
Roosevelt Sousa was the man who won the absolute division in the gi, shortly after he shared the final of the ultra-heavyweight division with his teammate Lucas Lisboa. It was surprising that the ADCC bronze medalist chose not to compete in no gi, and in fact the no gi divisions on the second day were a little thinner on the ground at the highest level. Regardless, Jose Inacio dos Santos still managed to come away with two gold medals. He got given a default gold at ultra-heavyweight before coming back to win the absolute division later on in the day.
There weren’t many competitors in the women’s divisions, but Larissa Dias still impressed by winning the absolute division after receiving a default gold medal at super-heavyweight. There were a surprising number of legends competing in the masters divisions of the IBJJF Miami Fall Open 2023 though. Joao Miyao competed on both days, winning gold at light-featherweight in the gi and featherweight in no gi at Master 1. That wasn’t all though, as StrikeForce and Dream veteran Gesias Cavalcante also won a gold medal in the no gi middleweight Master 2 division.
