The third major gi championship of 2023 goes down in Sao Paulo, Brazil from Saturday April 29th to Sunday May 7th. This year will be the 28th edition of the Brasileiros, with the first ever edition taking place back in 1994. With so much jiu-jitsu history in Sao Paulo, the Brasileiros are often cited as having the most electric atmosphere of any major tournament. 2023 will be the first year that the entire event can be streamed live on FloGrappling, so there’s no excuse to miss any of the world-class jiu-jitsu we’re sure to see in Sao Paulo.

Tainan Dalpra Makes Brasileiro Debut And Aims For First Ever Middleweight Grand Slam

Tainan Dalpra has been the most dominant competitor in IBJJF competition since receiving his black belt in 2020. The AOJ middleweight has won two World and European titles and three Pan titles and amassed a 54-0 record. Not only has he been unbeaten, Tainan has also managed to submit 70% of his opponents, many of whom are highly accomplished in their own rights. Despite all of Tainan’s success, he has never competed at the Brasileiros as a black belt. That will change for the 2023 edition, as Tainan chases the 2023 Grand Slam and looks to cement his legacy as the greatest middleweight of all time.

Though Tainan has been flawless as a black belt, 2023 has stood out as his best year yet. He’s collected two more major titles at the Europeans and Pans and also won a massive thirty minute super fight against Isaque Bahiense at the IBJJF FloGrappling Grand Prix. Should Tainan take gold in Sao Paulo, he’ll secure the Grand Slam, something that has never been done in the middleweight division. His Brasileiro division has plenty of accomplished competitors including Isaque Bahiense, Vinicius Martins, Lucas Tres, Wallison Oliveira, and Guilherme Rocha. Will any of these athletes provide a new challenge to Tainan, or will he continue to show why he’s widely considered the best competitor in the world?

Five Female Athletes Aim For Third Major Title In 2023

Since the start of 2023, there have been five female athletes who have won two major championship titles. 

R1NG BJJ’s Jessica Caroline came into 2023 without a major black belt title. That all changed at the 2023 Europeans in Paris, France, where Jessica won three fights to become the rooster weight champion. She carried the momentum from Europeans right into the Pans, winning three more matches and her second major title of 2023. The rooster weight division at the Brasileiros has six athletes, including 2022 Brasileiro Champion Brenda Larissa of Melqui Galvao Jiu-Jitsu.

Mayssa Bastos, who won the Grand Slam in 2021/2022 season as a rooster weight, started 2023 with gold medals at the Europeans and Pans. This year Mayssa has opted to compete in the light-feather division and has been equally successful. She’s gone 5-0 and has outscored her opponents 38-8, averaging 7.6 points per match. Mayssa will stay at light feather for Brasileiors, a six athlete division that will include some competitors Mayssa has yet to face as a black belt.

Dream’s Anna Rodrigues first tested the featherweight division back at the 2022 Europeans, where she won her division. She also won the 2022 Pans as a featherweight, but returned to light-feather for the Worlds, where she won her second World title. So far in 2023 Anna has five matches, finishing four of them with chokes from the back for an 80% submission rate. Anna does not have an easy division at Brasileiros, however, as she’ll be joined by 2022 featherweight World Champion Bianca Basilio, who will be competing in her first major IBJJF championship of 2023.

As one of the most accomplished female black belts of all time, Luiza Monteiro has won gold at every major gi championship multiple times. One feat she has yet to accomplish, however, is winning all of them in the same year. In 2023, Luiza, set out to do just that, taking on the lightweight divisions at the Europeans and Pans. She won her division in both of those events, getting impressive wins over the likes of Nathalie Ribeiro, Ffion Davies, and Janaina Lebre, to name a few. The lightweight division at Brasileiros has twelve competitors, the second most of any female division. 2022 World No-Gi Champion Brianna Ste-Marie, who will be making her IBJJF black belt debut in the gi, is also in at lightweight and could provide an interesting new challenge. Luiza will be going for her seventh Brasileiro title this year, with her last gold at the event coming in 2016 in the middleweight division.

Gabrieli Pessanha won her seventh straight double gold at a major tournament at the 2023 Pans, a record breaking accomplishment that has put her in a league of her own. She is currently the #1 ranked adult female black belt and has more than triple the amount of points as the next ranked athlete. At the 2022 Brasileiros, Gabrieli had a total of four matches, finishing all of them by submission. She’ll likely have more matches this year, as there are a total of eight competitors at super heavy and likely will be even more in the open class. Gabrieli has already broken countless records as a competitor and continues to build her legacy each and every time she competes.

2X World Champion Erich Munis Returns For Second Major Of 2023

Fresh off his second black belt Pan title, Erich Munis will return to competition at the 2023 Brasileiros. The Brasileiros are an event he’s had plenty of success in, winning double gold in 2021 after going 6-0 with two submissions. After representing Dream Art since he was a purple belt, Erich recently announced a team change. Starting with the 2023 Brasileiros, Erich will now represent Fratres Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a team that formed about a year ago. Between his weight class and the absolute, Erich can potentially have many great matchups. Victor Hugo, Antonio Braga Neto, Victor Honorio, Rider Zuchi, Gabriel Oliveira, Patrick Gaudio, Fellipe Andrew, Gustavo Batista, and many others, are all potential matches Erich could have in the open class. With seven major titles already under his belt, Erich will be looking to secure his eighth and ninth at the 2023 Brasileiros.

Isaque, Doederlein, & Victor Hugo Make 2023 Major Debuts

Isaque Bahiense is another athlete who will be competing in his first major championship of 2023. Earlier this year, Isaque had a super fight with middleweight kingpin Tainan Dalpra. Tainan would win the thirty minute match by points, but the match pushed Isaque to reach a new level both technically and mentally. The last time Isaque competed in a major IBJJF championship was at the 2022 Worlds, where he made the medium-heavy final and took second to Leandro Lo. Isaque’s resume includes major championship titles at the Worlds, Pans, and Europeans. His best finish at the Brasileiros came in 2021 in the heavyweight division, where he placed third.

One of the most inspiring stories from the 2022 World Championships was that of Isaac Doederlein. The Alliance featherweight entered the event for the sixth time looking for his first gold medal. Isaac fought a who’s who of featherweight black belts, including three competitors who had beaten him in the past in Alex Sodre, Sam Nagai, and Diego Sodre. He defeated all of them, winning the final against Diego Sodre with a sweep in the last thirty seconds of the match. His first black belt major title came back at the 2019 Brasileiros, where Isaac had an epic run to gold with four submissions in six matches. Should he make it to the top of the podium, Isaac will be only the second American to have two black belt Brasileiro gold medals with the other being Rafael Lovato Jr.

Six Blades black belt Victor Hugo won a World title in 2022 in dramatic fashion. In the ultra heavyweight final he faced Gutemberg Pereira of GF Team and found himself down two points and four advantages with less than two minutes left in the match. Victor recovered the deficit and scored nine unanswered points to win his second IBJJF World Championship in the gi. Since then, however, Victor has focused his efforts on gaining new skills at his new academy in Austin, Texas. He now returns to competition at the 2023 Brasileiros in the ultra heavy division to make his 2023 IBJJF debut. He’ll be joined by two athletes returning to major championship competition in Victor Honorio and Antonio Braga Neto, highly accomplished athletes who will also be hungry for gold.

Previous Brasileiro Champions

Mayssa Bastos - Rooster (2022)

Rodrigo Otavio - Rooster (2022)

Cleber Sousa - Rooster (2019)

Diogo Reis - Light-Feather (2022)

Anna Rodrigues - Light-Feather (2021)

Brenda Larissa - Light-Feather (2022)

Isaac Doederlein - Feather (2019)

Fabricio Andrey - Feather (2021, 2022)

Bianca Basilio - Feather (2021, 2022)

Luciane dos Santos Silva - Light (2021)

Luiza Monteiro - Middle & Open Class (2011), Light (2012, 2013, 2015), Middle (2016)

Andressa Cintra - Middle (2022)

Murilo Santana - Middle (2007, 2010, 2012, 2013)

Sabatha Lais - Medium-Heavy (2021, 2022)

Matheus Spirandeli - Medium-Heavy (2022)

Patrick Gaudio - Medium-Heavy (2017)

Fellipe Andrew - Heavy (2018)

Rider Zuchi - Heavy (2022)

Gabriel Oliveira - Heavy (2021)

Fernanda Mazzelli - Heavy (2022)

Antonio Braga Neto - Super Heavy (2008)

Erich Munis - Super Heavy & Open Class (2021)

Gabrieli Pessanha - Super Heavy & Open Class (2022), Open Class (2021)

Victor Honorio - Ultra Heavy (2017)

Make sure you don’t miss any of the matches at the 2023 Brasileiros. Go to flograppling.com to stream the entire event.