The 2023 Charleston Open took place at the Charleston Area Convention Center on Saturday April 15th and Sunday April 16th. In previous editions of the event, Alliance had won the first place team trophy, a feat they repeated this weekend with another first place finish in the gi. Additionally, there were several elite black belts such as Gabriel Sousa, Pedro Machado, and Gabriel Arges who competed in Charleston and brought home gold medals.

ZR Team’s Gabriel Sousa returned to competition at the 2023 Charleston Open where he competed in the lightweight and open class divisions. Gabriel commented on why he competed at lightweight, how his matches went, and when we can expect to see him back on the competition mats.

“I fought at lightweight because my former teammate and main training partner Gustavo was fighting at featherweight and for me to qualify for gi Worlds I needed a gold medal. He won feather and I won lightweight. In the first match I submitted my opponent with a collar choke from the back in less than two minutes. In the weight class final, I won via flying arm bar in three seconds. As my opponent was trying to make a grip to pull guard, I jumped onto his arm. I had three more matches in the open class. The first I pulled guard and won via knee bar. The second I won 2-0 and in the final I lost by 2-2 and 3-1 on advantages to Pedro Machado. It was a close match. We both swept each other and at the end he scored another advantage from a takedown attempt. Since I don’t need points anymore I will fight at the Atlanta Open in May and then focus on the big goal, gi Worlds.”

The open class champions in the gi were Pedro Machado of Atos Jiu-Jitsu and Brenda Ariane of Qatar BJJ / Vision. Pedro won his first match via armbar, his second match 6-4, and the final by two advantages. Brenda had only one match in the open class, a 7-0 victory over Taylor Sausser.

Other notable performances came from Gabriel Arges, Marcio Pires, and Clay Mayfield. Gabriel won gold in the no-gi medium-heavy division with triangle and heel hook finishes. It was the 2X World Champion’s first competition of 2023. Marcio Pires competed in the ultra heavy division both with and without the gi. Despite qualifying for the master 2 division, Marcio was able to win two gold medals at adult. In the no-gi open class, Clay Mayfield of Pedigo Submission Fighting won two matches to become champion.

2023 Charleston Open team results:

1. Alliance

2. CheckMat

3. Atos Jiu-Jitsu

2023 Charleston Open No-Gi team results

1. Natural Selection

2. Charlotte Jiu-Jitsu Academy

3. Alliance