Purple belts competed on days four and five of the gigantic 2023 Brasileiros and they delivered in putting on a show. The purple belts representing Alliance were particularly impressive as they collected five adult male gold medals. Open class champions Giovanna Carneiro and Rafael Borges had epic performances submitting 86% and 80% of their opponents, respectively. The following were some of the standout individual purple belt athletes at the 2023 Brasileiros.

Rafael Borges, Middleweight & Open Class, Dream Art

Double gold purple belt Pan Champion Rafael Borges put on another dominant performance at the 2023 Brasileiros. Rafael won a total of ten matches in the middleweight and open class divisions without conceding a single point or advantage. He started his Brasileiros run with two closed guard armbars. He then finished three chokes from the back to advance to the final against Jose Steve of Cens Academy, a 2022 European Champion and Worlds silver medalist. Jose was also having a tremendous day heading into the middleweight final, as he had submitted four of his opponents. The middleweight final ended 0-0, with Rafael earning the decision after attempting multiple attacks from closed guard throughout the match.

Rafael did equally well in the open class, defeating two opponents with Ezekiel chokes and one via advantages to advance to the final. He faced another highly regarded purple belt in the final in Leo Ferreira of Alliance. The final started with a double guard pull and Rafael quickly latched onto an ankle lock. After adjusting the position for nearly a minute, he got the tap and won his second gold of the day in an extremely impressive performance.

Giovanna Carneiro, Middleweight & Open Class, GF Team

Giovanna Carneiro was promoted to purple belt following a blue belt double gold medal performance at the 2022 Worlds at juvenile 2. At the 2023 Pans, she made her adult purple debut at a major championship, winning gold in the middleweight division and taking second in the open class. Giovanna exceeded all expectations at the Brasileiros, where she won her weight class and the absolute. In her division, Giovanna had four fights and four submissions. She finished all of her fights with armbars from the guard and didn’t concede a single point or advantage. She won two more fights by submission to advance to the open class final, where she took on Luane Carvalho of Qatar BJJ / Vision Brasil. It was Giovanna’s toughest test of the day. Down by two advantages with about a minute left in the match, Giovanna executed a perfectly timed drop seoi nage to score two points. She held onto the lead for the remainder of the match, ending her double gold run in dramatic fashion.

Aghata Fernandes, Lightweight, CheckMat

With five fights and five submissions, Aghata Fernandes became the purple belt lightweight champion at the 2023 Brasileiros. Aghata finished all of her fights by submission, hitting four armbars and one choke from the mount. Her four armbars all came directly off the guard pull early in her matches. Aghata was the only purple belt adult champion with a 100% submission rate.

Romulo Rocha, Featherweight, Alliance

Alliance Sao Paulo’s Romulo Rocha took on a new division at the Brasileiros, where he put on an epic performance that featured a 67% submission rate. Romulo had plenty of success as a lightweight, conquering the Worlds No-Gi and Pans in 2022, but decided to drop to featherweight for this event. The decision to drop weight paid off as Romulo mowed through a 79 competitor division to take gold. He showed an aggressive and submission oriented jiu-jitsu that led him to six victories. His attacks from his guard were lightning quick, as Romulo finished three of his matches with submissions from his back, two by armbar and one by triangle.

Rafael Gamba, Lightweight, Alliance

Rafael Gamba took gold in the lightweight division after winning six fights, five of which came by way of submission. Like his Alliance teammate Romulo Rocha, Rafael showed an extremely dangerous and aggressive guard. Most of his submissions came from collar and sleeve control, which allowed him to attack triangles and omoplatas on his opponents. Rafael faced 2023 Pan Champion Miguel Costa of Dream Art in the lightweight final, a highly anticipated match between two of the best purple belts on the planet. Miguel started the match strong, initiating threatening guard pass attempts that Rafael was forced to defend. He was able to weather the storm, however, and locked in a triangle off one of the near guard pass attempts. Rafael finished the match with a kimura from the triangle position, putting a stamp on an incredible Brasileiros performance.

Beatriz Campos, Featherweight, Dream Art

Coming off an amazing double gold run at the 2023 Pans, Dream Art’s Beatriz Campos competed in the featherweight division at the 2023 Brasileiros. Beatriz had a total of four matches. She won them via choke from the mount, a foot lock in less than ten seconds, an arm lock from the mount, and points in the final.

You can catch all of the replays from the 2023 Brasileiros exclusively on FloGrappling.