The IBJJF New Orleans Fall Open 2023 took place on November 4th, 2023 and some of the best grapplers from around the US traveled there to compete. Inacio Santos left with the biggest medal haul from the event, although both of his gold medals at ultra-heavyweight were won by default as he was the only competitor at that weight. He did win the absolute division in the gi against some tough competition though, and ended up with a silver medal in the no gi absolute on the second day. The man that handed him his only loss of the event was Austin Oranday, who won the no gi absolute shortly after winning the medium-heavyweight division too.
Oranday didn’t leave undefeated either though, as he ended up with a silver medal in his weight class in the gi and a bronze medal in that absolute division. There were other top competitors in the gi as well, particularly in the middleweight division where Yan Paiva stood on top of the podium. Jose Jurema was also in fine form, as he managed to win a tough heavyweight division in the gi. He did return on the second day to compete in no gi as well, but there wasn’t anyone else in his division. The featherweight division was full of action too, with Emilio Hernandez winning gold there. He won a default gold at that weight in no gi, and managed to take a bronze medal in the absolute division too.
There actually weren’t any female competitors in the adult black belt divisions at the IBJJF New Orleans Fall Open 2023 unfortunately, so there were no matches to be made there. In fact, there were no brown belts and only a single purple belt in the adult divisions too. There were some female Master competitors at the higher belt levels, but overall the women’s divisions were pretty thin at the event.
