The ADCC Mexico Open 2023 took place on March 18th, 2023 and several competitors in attendance at the event delivered some impressive results. It was the very first tournament that was streamed live on UFC Fight Pass after ADCC signed the landmark deal with the streaming service at the beginning of the year. There was action from start to finish and a number of talented grapplers made the journey to Guadalajara, Mexico to try and reach the podium. It’s one of a number of ADCC Open tournaments that are scheduled for 2023, as the promotion is kicking it’s efforts into high gear before the cycle of ADCC trials for the 2024 world championship begins.
One of the most popular names to compete at the event was ADCC veteran John Hansen, who ended up winning gold in the heavyweight division. He had two matches in the division and he showed exactly why experience under the unique ADCC ruleset is so valuable as he racked up points in both of them. Across these two matches Hansen managed to put up an incredible 65 points to 0, dominating both of his opponents and comfortably taking home the gold medal. He had significantly more matches in the absolute division as well, where he proved to be equally dominant as he submited all five of his opponents on route to winning gold there too.
Calon Sabino also impressed in his own division, as he submitted all four of his opponents to win the 91kg weightclass. Sabino made especially short work of his first three opponents, taking less than 90 seconds to get through them. Dominic Mejia had a similar performance at 70kg, as he also left the ADCC Mexico Open 2023 with a perfect slate of results. He’s a veteran of Who’s Number One and was a comfortable favourite to win the division anyway, but he really put on a show when it was time to hit the mats. It was a masterful performance by Meija and he submitted all three of his opponents, making a clear statement that he’s going to be one to watch at future ADCC events.
The full ADCC Mexico Open 2023 event, including all of the above results, is available to watch on UFC Fight Pass.