The IBJJF Sao Leopoldo Open 2023 took place on November 4th, 2023 and some of the best talent that Brazil has to offer stepped on the mats at the event. It was a smaller event than many other IBJJF Open tournaments, so both the gi and no gi divisions took place on the same day. Lucas Alves was one of several top competitors who attended the event, and he decided to enter the heavyweight division under both rulesets. He won a gold medal in the gi and was awarded a default gold medal in no gi, but returned later on to earn a silver medal in the no gi absolute division.
Antonio de Padua beat Alves in the final of the no gi absolute division in order to take home his second gold medal of the day. His first came from the ultra-heavyweight no gi division, where he was given a default medal as a result of being the only competitor. It was Harryson Pereira who put on one of the most impressive performances of the day though, even if he only competed in the gi. He managed to win the super-heavyweight division first before going on to reach the top of the podium in the absolute division despite some tough competition.
Sadly there were no women’s divisions at the highest level in either gi or no gi at the IBJJF Sao Leopoldo Open 2023. It was unfortunate that there weren’t any female adult black belt grapplers at the event, and in fact there was only two adult brown belts competing in the gi. There weren’t any women’s no gi matches at all, at any belt level or in any age bracket. The number of women training BJJ has grown dramatically over the past few decades and it’s a shame that there are still IBJJF Open events failing to attract any sizeable number of female competitors.