The IBJJF New York and Chicago Spring Opens 2025 both took place on the same weekend, across April 5th and 6th, 2025. Despite being split between two cities hours away, there was still plenty of top competitors showing up to each event. Enderson Dias won both the heavyweight and absolute divisions to become the gi double champion in Chicago, while his female counterpart was Larissa Dias after she won gold medals at super-heavyweight and in the absolute. Mateusz Lim and Caitlin Huggins became the no gi double champions on the second day, as they won their absolutes along with the ultra-heavyweight and super-heavyweight divisions respectively.
There were a few other notable names competing in the gi in Chicago though, especially at light-featherweight where Carlos ‘Bebeto’ Oliviera beat Bruno Sena in the final. Samuel Nagai also stood at the top of the podium in the lightweight division, while the gold medal at medium-heavyweight went to ATOS prospect Rafael Silveira. The no gi brackets at the IBJJF Chicago Spring Open 2025 were pretty thin on the ground, but New York more than made up for that. Jon ‘Thor’ Blank won the no gi absolute there, but he had to settle for a silver medal in a tough medium-heavyweight bracket after Felipe Cesar beat him to take gold.
Devhonte Johnson won a silver medal in the no gi absolute behind Blank, shortly after he won gold in the ultra-heavyweight division. Edwin ‘Junny’ Ocasio was probably the most successful competitor there though, and he submitted Jack Stapleton in the only light-featherweight match. There were no female black belt no gi matches unfortunately, but the women came out in force in the gi on the first day. The young UK contender Nia Blackman left as the gi double champion in New York, as she won a gold medal in the medium-heavyweight division before doing the same in a tough absolute bracket.
Graciele Del Fava was the absolute silver medalist, while Beatrice Jin and Janine Mutton won the bronze medals. Del Fava was given a default gold at super-heavyweight, but Jin and Mutton both beat talented grapplers to win their respective divisions at lightweight and middleweight. There was a great matchup outside of that too, as Amanda ‘Tubby’ Alequin beat Jessica Crane in the final of the featherweight bracket. There were some standouts in the men’s gi divisions in New York too, with Gregor Gracie winning the heavyweight title and Yuta Shimada emerging victorious at featherweight by beating Hiago George in the final.
