Plenty of elite competitors descended on the English capital for the IBJJF London Open on the weekend of February 18th and 19th, 2023, but Roberto Jimenez ended up putting in the most impressive performance out of any of them. He competed in both the gi and no gi editions of the tournament, including taking on all comers in the absolute division of both rulesets too. Not many athletes outside of the heaviest divisions find success in open weight categories, and it’s even more impressive to do so both in the gi and out of it.
Jimenez has historically competed somewhere between 80 to 90kg and has even competed as low as 77kg at ADCC 2022, but at this tournament he decided to enter at 94kg in the gi and 91.5kg in no gi. He won gold medals in both of his weightclasses, beating out particularly tough competition in no gi where he defeated Tarik Hopstock in the final. He continued that success in no gi by winning a gold medal in the absolute division, although he couldn’t quite replicate that success in the gi absolute division. There he managed to make his way to the final once again, but couldn’t quite stop Jansen Ramos from taking home gold.
By coming away with three gold medals and a silver medal, Jimenez had the most success of any adult black belt competitor that weekend. He was only one win away from making it a perfect sweep of every division and if this performance is anything to go by, Jimenez is looking at a phenomenal competition run this year. Roberto Jimenez wasn’t the only top competitor to win more than one medal at the IBJJF London Open however, as Tayane Porfirio returned from a four-year suspension to win gold at her own weightclass and the absolute division in the gi.
A few of the highlights from Roberto Jimenez taking home four medals at the IBJJF London Open can be seen below:
