The IBJJF Orange County Open 2024 took place over the weekend of April 20th and 21st, 2024 and several top American grapplers stepped on the mats on both days. Joao Rocha left with an impressive haul of three gold medals, as he started out by winning the gi heavyweight division and returned on the second day to win both the no gi heavyweight division and the absolute. The men’s gi absolute division was won by Marcus Ribeiro, although he left with a silver medal at ultra-heavyweight behind one of his Alliance Jiu-Jitsu teammates. Standing next to him on both podiums was Renato Tagliari, who left with a pair of bronze medals in tough brackets.
The women’s gi absolute division was won by Melissa Stricker, although she took silver at heavyweight behind Maria Vicentini. Their fates reversed in the absolute division, as it was Vicentini who came up short and left with a bronze medal alongside Ana Carolina Lima. It was a great result for Lima as a light-featherweight, and she beat Jhenifer Aquino in the only match of their weight class. Vannessa Griffin was the silver medalist in the gi absolute and that was the only medal she won over the weekend, while the women’s no gi absolute division was won by Jaine Fragoso.
Fragoso won that division and middleweight in no gi, but the first day saw her take silver in the gi lightweight division behind Janaina Lebre. There were plenty of other fantastic matches in the women’s divisions too, particularly in the lightweight division where Nathalie Ribeiro beat Larissa Campos in the final match. The bronze medal was won by Karen Terra, who returned on the second day in order to take a default gold in the no gi edition of the weight class. The women’s middleweight division was won by Mayara Melo and the men’s gi divisions also enjoyed some fantastic final matches at the IBJJF Orange County Open 2024.
Johnatha Alves won gold in the men’s middleweight bracket despite some very tough opposition on his way to the top of the podium, while both of the smallest divisions were won by big names too. Everton Teixeira emerged victorious in the lightest division at roosterweight, while Jordan Vaisman took home the gold medal in the light-featherweight division. Joao Mendes won the featherweight division after beating Zach Kaina in the final match while the lightweight division featured two equally impressive competitors in the top two spots, as Checkmat representatives Daniel Diniz and Jonata Gomes took gold and silver respectively.
There weren’t many competitors exclusively in the no gi brackets at the IBJJF Orange County Open 2024 but there was a notable appearance by AJ Agazarm, who won gold at middleweight. Ty Freeman and Dorothy Dao also entered the tournament at super-heavyweight and light-featherweight respectively, where they also left with a gold medals. Calon Sabino was the final big name who competed exclusively in the no gi divisions, although he had to settle for a bronze medal at super-heavyweight and a silver medal in the absolute division later in the day. All in all there was plenty of action on the mats and some huge matches that wouldn’t look out of place in the later rounds of one of the major IBJJF events.
