The IBJJF Nashville Spring Open 2023 took place across the weekend of April 22nd and 23rd, 2023, and there was plenty of elite action in the tournament’s results. One of the most high-profile competitors to step foot on the mats at the event was Diego ‘Pato’ Oliveira, who was competing in one of his first few tournaments as a representative of Art of Jiu-Jitsu after making the move to train with the Mendes Brothers. He stormed to victory in the featherweight division in the gi, although he chose not to compete in the no gi bracket the following day for an unknown reason.
Another big name appeared in the middleweight division, as AJ Agazarm returned to the mats and put in some solid work in the gi. Agazarm made it to the final of his division but wasn’t able to reach the top of the podium, as Josh McKinney took home the gold medal instead. Austin Oranday came third in the same division before taking home a silver medal in the absolute, and then he improved even more in no gi on the second day where he took home a gold medal at medium-heavyweight and another silver from the absolute.
The only man to walk away with two gold medals at black belt on the first day of the IBJJF Nashville Spring Open 2023 was Guilherme Augusto, who really impressed in every match he competed in. Augusto won gold in the heaviest weightclass, Ultra-heavyweight, first before he took a different bracket of competitors in the absolute division and achieved the exact same result. Melissa Stricker achieved the same feat and won the women’s absolute division, although she was unfortunately left without a match at her weightclass and took a default gold medal there.
Steffen Banta was another double-gold winner as he managed to win the ultra-heavyweight no gi division and the no gi absolute division on the second day. Unfortunately for adult female black belts, there was only one entered in no gi so no matches took place there. One of the best performances of the weekend actually came in the brown belt division though, where Cole Abate won gold in the lightweight gi division, the middleweight no gi division, and in the no gi absolute division.
