The IBJJF New Orleans Summer Open 2023 took place across July 15th and 16th, 2023 and there was plenty of action across each division at the event. There were some top competitors stepping on to the mats as well, particularly on the first day when the gi edition took place. It was Mathias Luna who walked away with the most medals on that day, as he managed to win gold in both the medium-heavyweight division and in the absolute division despite facing some tough opposition. In the absolute division he had to defeat Jose Jurema in the final, who was fresh off winning gold at heavyweight and obviously had a size advantage over Luna.
After that success on the Saturday, both Jurema and Luna came back the next day to compete in the no gi edition as well. Jurema won another gold medal in the heavyweight division but Luna fell just one match short of repeating the flawless performance he had the day before. He still won the medium-heavyweight division but he was stopped in the final of the absolute division when he came up against super-heavyweight gold medalist Diego Dias. That was the only division that Dias was able to get matches in, as he took home a pair of default gold medals from the super-heavyweight division.
Other talented competitors managed to walk away with some silverware too, as Isaac Rossi and Kevin Mahecha both stood on top of the gi podiums at featherweight and lightweight respectively. There were some famous faces in the master brackets too, with Bernardo Pitel taking home a gold medal at Master 4 lightweight and a silver medal from that absolute division. There weren’t very many female competitors taking part in the IBJJF New Orleans Summer Open 2023 unfortunately, and there wasn’t actually any women’s adult black belt matches on either day of the tournament.
