The IBJJF Sao Paulo Pro Open 2023 took place on July 8th, 2023 and there was a lot of action across all of the top divisions at the event. The lightweight division in particular was stacked with top talent, as demonstrated by the fact that both Lucas Maquine and Cleber Sousa had to settle for bronze medals from it. After several tough matches on both sides of the bracket for that weight class, it was Matheus Onda who managed to walk away with a gold medal. That wasn’t the only impressive bracket in the tournament either, as several top Brazilian grapplers traveled to compete.
The podium of the heavyweight division was equally impressive, with bronze medals going out to Gabriel Oliveira and Vinicius Liberati. It was Vinicius Lessa and Alex Munis who managed to make it to the final of that division and although either man could have won that match, it was Lessa who did so when all was said and done. The middleweight division had some talented grapplers competing in it too, and in the end it was Luiz Paulo who stood at the top of that podium. Paulo wasn’t the only Melqui Galvao Jiu-Jitsu representative who won gold either, as his teammate Brenda Larissa managed to emerge victorious in the women’s light-featherweight division.
There was actually several top female BJJ competitors stepping on the mats at the IBJJF Sao Paulo Pro Open 2023, although Sabatha Lais was the one who managed to come away with the most prestigious title. Lais might have had a default gold at medium-heavyweight but she got a hard-earned gold medal from the absolute division later on. Amanda Magda won gold at heavyweight with some impressive performances, and Julia Alves achieved the same result in the lightweight division. Jaine Fragoso made an appearance in the lightweight division too, but she unfortunately had to settle for bronze medals in both that and the absolute.
