The Dream Art team brought their best brown belts to the 2023 Brasileiros and took home more gold medals than any other team. Led by World Champions Isaque Bahiense and Anna Rodrigues, Dream Art has proven to be one of the top teams of the sport, as evidenced by their recent first place titles at the 2023 Europeans (Female) and Pans (Male & Female). Their brown belt gold medalists included Kevin Gabriel (light-feather), Guilherme Fernandes (feather), Gabriel Galvão (middle), Pedro Souza (medium-heavy & open class), and Maria Vicentini (medium-heavy). In addition to athletes representing Dream Art, there were also many others who put on incredible individual performances. The following were some of the standout competitors in the brown belt divisions at the 2023 Brasileiros.

Pedro Souza, Medium-Heavy & Open Class, Dream Art

After taking bronze at the 2023 Pans, Pedro Souza was on a mission to win gold at the Brasileiros. He moved up from middleweight to medium-heavy, a decision that seemed to pay dividends as he won gold in both his weight and the open class. He had a total of eight fights, five at medium-heavy and three in the absolute. Of those eight matches, Pedro finished five of them by submission. His finishes included three chokes from the back, one loop choke, and one arm bar.

Giovanna Jara, Heavyweight, Fratres Jiu Jitsu

2023 has been an impeccable year for Giovanna Jara. She won double gold at the 2023 Europeans in Paris, France and then followed that up with another double gold at the Pans in Florida. Giovanna’s performances earned her the #1 spot in the female brown belt rankings, and her performance at Brasileiros further solidified her position. She submitted all of her opponents at the Brasileiros, capturing her third straight double gold at a major championship. 

Gabriel Galvao, Middleweight, Dream Art

In the brown belt middleweight division, Gabriel Galvao won five matches to become the champion. He did so in impressive fashion, finishing all of them by submission while not conceding any points. The middleweight final was against Gleison Santos, a strong and technical athlete from Nova Uniao who came into the bracket as the #2 seed. Gabriel pulled to closed guard, overhooked his opponents arm, and finished with an armbar just 28 seconds into the match. Following his impeccable performance at middleweight, Gabriel jumped into the absolute, where he had three more victories. He took second to his teammate Pedro Souza, ending the championship with one gold and one silver medal.

Thiago Saboia, Lightweight, Alliance

2023 European champion Thiago Saboia of Alliance Sao Paulo took gold in the lightweight division at the Brasileiros. Thiago had a total of four fights, finishing one by toe hold and winning the other three on points. He faced #2 seed Sandrey Silva in the final, winning a close battle by points to take gold. Saboia credited his performance at Brasileiros to following the plan he laid out with his team at Alliance prior to the event.

Bruno Sena, Roosterweight, Kronos BJJ

Bruno Sena of Kronos BJJ took on the brown belt rooster weight division at the 2023 Brasileiros. The division featured an impressive 22 athletes, requiring five fights to take gold. Bruno had won the Brasileiros in 2021 as a purple belt and was aiming for his second title as a brown belt. He put on a masterful performance, winning five fights with a 100% submission rate. His favored submission was the footlock, as he scored three of them throughout his matches. He also finished two fights from the back, using an aggressive style of lapel guard to earn the back position.

Bianca Giannini, Light-Featherweight, GF Team

Bianca Giannini needed just seven total minutes of mat time to win her second straight brown belt light-featherweight title at the Brasileiros. The Argentinian athlete finished all of her matches with footlock variations. She finished her first match with a Caio Terra ankle lock in about one minute. Her semifinal was her longest match, where she finished a toehold five minutes and fifteen seconds into the match. The final was her fastest submission of the day. She was able to submit her opponent with a straight ankle lock just 41 seconds into the contest.

Guilherme Fernandes, Featherweight, Dream Art

At the 2023 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships, Dream Art’s Guilherme Fernandes won gold in the always stacked featherweight division, his second time winning the Pans in the colored belts. He returned to featherweight at the Brasileiros as the #2 seed in one of the toughest brown belt divisions at the event. Guilherme put on a fantastic performance, winning five fights and defeating many of the top seeds on his way to gold. His semifinal and final matches were both 4-2 victories, where Guilherme defeated #2 seed Cleison Gabriel and #4 seed Jhonathan Frota, respectively.

Watch the replays from all the brown belt matches from the Brasileiros exclusively on FloGrappling.