For the second time in 2023, the IBJJF returned to Dallas for the Dallas Summer International Open. The Duncanville Fieldhouse was the site of the event, drawing the top teams from Texas to the competition mats.

Six Blades Jiu-Jitsu’s Felipe Costa was the standout gi competitor of the day, turning in a flawless performance. The 2023 American National Champion and Pans silver medalist has been on a tear as of late and continued his impressive streak in Texas. “Dallas Open is always an amazing event. I won all my matches by submission and it was great to have a lot of my teammates there supporting me. I’m always trying my best to put on a show for everyone,” explained Felipe. “My training under the guidance of Sensei Xande Ribeiro and Professor Victor Hugo has been indispensable on and off the mats. This in combination with my weight training at Power Athlete has helped me evolve my game. I’ve been challenging myself by competing a lot and hoping to have the opportunity to do some super fights and test myself more now that I’m going into my second year as a black belt. I’m looking forward to the next one!”

Two other standout athletes from the event were the Nagai brothers. Like Felipe, Sam and Jackson Nagai have been very active in 2023. Sam, who won his first black belt World title this year discussed his performance at the event. “Dallas Open was great. I fought my division and the open weight. In the open weight I had a great match against Ricardo Evangelista. It was really hard to fight against that giant but I was be able to sweep him and take his back at the end of the fight! So my performance was really good, gi and no-gi.” Jackson Nagai took first at middleweight, finishing both of his fights with mounted triangle submissions.

Double Five’s Vitoria Assis was only promoted to black belt at the 2023 World Championships in early June, but has already asserted herself as an elite black belt. “The Dallas Open was my third tournament at black belt and first time fighting in the open class division,” explained Vitoria. "I was very excited when I saw that my first fight would be with Thamires Aquino. She just made the Worlds final against Jessa Khan and we had a very hard fight. I feel like I’m ready to fight with anyone in my division and I can’t wait for the next challenges and for an opportunity to show my jiu-jitsu to the world. My next big challenges will be Pan No-Gi and Worlds No-Gi. But I also want to stay as active as possible in gi, to always be ready for challenges and maybe get a place at the CROWN.”

Another athlete who shined brightly in Texas was Francisco Lo. He won his only match in the gi in the heavyweight division and then won two no-gi open class matches on Sunday to go 3-0 for the weekend.

2023 Dallas Summer Open team results:

1. LEAD BJJ

2. Six Blades Jiu-Jitsu

3. Gracie Barra

2023 Dallas Summer No-Gi Open team results:

1. Gracie Barra

2. LEAD BJJ

3. Team Mohler