The IBJJF Manaus Open 2023 took place on August 19th, 2023 and the event attracted some of the top BJJ black belts from all around Brazil. The biggest name competing at the event was undoubtedly Mica Galvao, as he was making the latest stop on his IBJJF comeback tour. He was suspended for year after failing a PEDs test at the IBJJF no gi world championship in 2022 and he has only recently been eligible to compete for the promotion again. Since his suspension has been served, Galvao has been competing under IBJJF rules more frequently than anyone else and he’s been on absolute tear.
In August alone, Galvao has competed in three different IBJJF Opens and put in fantastic performances every single time. He started out by winning a pair of gold medals at the IBJJF Vitoria Open and then repeated that feat at the IBJJF Floripa Winter Open a week later. That was only a week ago, and now he’s done it again by winning a pair of gold medals in the medium-heavyweight division of the IBJJF Manaus Open 2023, winning both the gi and no gi brackets. He didn’t stop there this time though, as he also entered the no gi absolute division and added a third gold medal to his haul from the weekend.
Galvao wasn’t the only grappler who managed to leave with more than one gold medal either, as both Tiago Carvalho and Tyrone Gonsalves won their respective weight classes in both gi and in no gi too. There were plenty of other talented Brazilian BJJ competitors who entered the tournament as well, although unfortunately the women’s divisions were practically empty at the highest levels. No female weight class had more than a single competitor at the adult black belt level, so there were no matches conducted and only default medals awarded.
