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The 2023 Curitiba Summer Open took place on Saturday March 11th and Sunday March 12th, just a week before the second major gi event of the year, the Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships. Among the most compelling story lines of the event were the returns of Erich Munis, Diogo Reis, and Mauricio Oliveira, and Patrick Gaudio’s pursuit of another gold medal in 2023.

2X World Champion Erich Munis returned to IBJJF competition in Curitiba for the first time since the 2022 Worlds. Erich won gold with three victories and commented on his performance. “I managed to do what I was working on at the gym, which was taking down my opponents and improving my guard passing. I felt that this was lacking in my game.” Erich’s next tournament will be the Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Kissimmee, Florida. 

Thalyta Silva of Fratres Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was the standout female competitor of the event. She won two matches at middleweight and three in the open class, going 5-0 on the day. “I had a lot of tough matches in my division and in the open class and I’m now fighting with a lot of strong girls of the new generation and they are coming very strong, so all of my matches were very hard. But I think I was able to put my game into practice,” explained Thalyta. “In both matches from my division I took the back and I think now these competitions after I changed my team I started to train differently. I think I’m using more techniques in my fights.” Thalyta will compete at the Pans in a tough middleweight division alongside Elisabeth Clay, Thamara Ferreira, and Vanessa Griffin.

Patrick Gaudio entered the Curitiba Summer Open looking for his second IBJJF gold of 2023. He had the following to say about his matches on Saturday in the gi. “I had three fights in the gi at the Curitiba Open. I grew throughout the competition and I felt confident that I would win. It was the second championship that I fought in this year and I got positive results. I managed to get the points for the Pans and I’m going to get the gold. This is all training for my ultimate goal, which is the World Championship, the only title that I don’t have yet. I took second in 2017 and 2018 and I want to get what’s mine!” Patrick also took gold on Sunday March 12th in the no-gi ultra heavy division.

Diogo “Baby Shark” Reis made his 2023 IBJJF debut in Curitiba and competed in both the gi and no-gi featherweight divisions. In the gi, Diogo won three matches, following that performance up with another great run in no-gi. Diogo used a diverse set of techniques to win his gold medals, showing off his takedowns, sweeps, passes, and submissions throughout the weekend. Another competitor who made his highly anticipated return to competition was Mauricio Oliveira of Alliance. He looked tremendous following his return from a major knee injury, winning three matches at medium-heavy to take first place. Vitoria Vieira also had an excellent performance in Curitiba, as she won gi and no-gi gold medals in the lightweight and middleweight divisions, respectively. 

The no-gi open class champions were GF Team athletes Pedro Alex and Mikaela Barros de Lima.

2023 Curitiba Summer Open team results:

1. CheckMat

2. Alliance

3. Atos Jiu-Jitsu

2023 Curitiba Summer Open No-Gi team results

1. CheckMat

2. Gracie Barra

3. GF Team