The IBJJF Salvador Fall Open 2023 took place on the weekend of April 15th and 16th, 2023 and the tournament attracted some of the best grapplers from around Brazil. There was plenty of action across both days, with a lot of black belt competitors signing up to compete both in the gi and no gi. Top young competitor Lucas Maquine made his mark at the event on the first day, winning gold at lightweight in one his first few appearances at black belt.
Someone managed to leave with two gold medals on the first day though, and that was Checkmat black belt Jeane Rafaelly. She won the only match in the heavyweight division before putting in a series of great performances in the absolute division to win that too. Gabriel Costa came away with the biggest prize in the men’s divisions on the first day, as he won gold in the absolute division. He had to settle for a silver medal in his own weightclass though, as Alex Munis defeated him in the final of the medium-heavyweight division. Costa did return with a vengeance in the no gi portion of the tournament on the next day, winning gold in his weightclass this time around.
Leonardo Goncalves was the man who won the no gi absolute division at the IBJJF Salvador Fall Open 2023 though, shortly after he won gold at heavyweight too. There was plenty of exciting young talents at the tournament too, and Eliza Vasconcelos impressed when competing just a few months after being promoted to black belt. Although she was the only woman at super-heavyweight and got given a default gold, she got her chance to take to the mats in the absolute division where she won a tough division. She definitely has big things on the horizon and would likely cause trouble for a lot of competitors at major IBJJF events.
