5/9/2022 By Danny O'Donnell

The IBJJF returned to Atlanta, Georgia for gi and no-gi events on May 7th and 8th. Atos, CheckMat, Gracie Barra, Creighton MMA, Alliance, Roberto Traven BJJ, GF Team, and many other local academies brought competitors to the Georgia International Convention Center. The following are some of the standout performances of the event.

2022 Pan champion, Carlos “Bebeto” Oliveira, took gold in the light-feather division. Bebeto won matches against Christopher Tran of Crazy 88, Vincent Saenz of Six Blades Jiu-Jitsu, and Edwin Ocasio of Unity Jiu-Jitsu. “I had three fights today, getting a submission in my first fight and winning the next two fights by points,” said Bebeto. “I felt very good in my fights, feeling that what I've been training is working.” Bebeto will now focus on the 2022 World Championships. “My training for the Worlds is practically the same as what I was doing for the Pans. Now it's time to continue the work to get to the Worlds at 100%.”

In the female open class division, it was Larissa Dias go MJN Jiu-Jitsu who came away with the gold medal. She had no opponents in the super heavy division but went to the open class, where she had three fights. Larissa described her open class matches in Atlanta. “I won all 3 fights by submission. In the first match I was winning by 12 points. I pulled guard, swept, passed, took the back, and finished with a choke from back mount. In the second match I pulled guard and hit a triangle. In the third match the girl pulled guard and I passed, put knee on belly, and mounted. She turned and I took the back and got the finish.”

Another standout of the event was Fight Sport’s Roosevelt Souza. In the ultra-heavy division, Roosevelt won two matches to take gold. In the open class, he won another four, defeating Unity Jiu-Jitsu athletes Italo Moura and Levi Jone-Leary in the semi-finals and finals, respectively. Another Fight Sports athlete, Joao Costa, won the open class the following day in no-gi. Joao had two matches without the gi to take gold in the open class division.

Margot Ciccarelli of Unity Jiu-Jitsu won gold in the gi at lightweight in Atlanta. Margot defeated two opponents to take home gold. Alex Enriquez of Atos Jiu-Jitsu, who won the No-Gi Worlds as a brown belt prior to her black belt promotion, took double gold in no-gi. At lightweight, Alex won two matches. She won another match in the open class, bring her gold medal count to two on the weekend.

2022 Atlanta Spring International Open team results:

1. Roberto Traven BJJ
2. Alliance
3. Gracie Barra

2022 Atlanta Spring International Open No-Gi team results:

1. Creighton Mixed Martial Arts
2. Alliance
3. Atos Jiu-Jitsu