World Champion Gustavo Batista competed in his first tournament of 2023 at the Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championships, where he put his world-class guard passing skills on full display. He had four matches at the Pans, getting submissions in his first three and then defeating 2023 European Champion Jansen Gomes in the final by advantage. He followed up his great performance at Pans with another amazing display of jiu-jitsu at the Brasileiros. After three matches, Gustavo went home with a gold medal and a 100% submission rate. We caught up with Gustavo to discuss the Brasileiros and the upcoming World Jiu-Jitsu Championships.

2023 Brasileiro Highlights

-Medium-Heavyweight Champion

-3-0 with 3 submissions; 100% submission rate

-Submitted all matches with chokes from the back

-Outscored opponents 19-4

-Average match length of 7:06

This was your first Brasileiro title as a black belt. Can you talk about the environment at the event as how it felt to achieve this title?

It was amazing. It could not have been better. Fighting in Brazil after so many years, feeling that unique vibe from the Brazilian public, and winning with 3 fights and 3 submissions was amazing. The last time I competed at the Brazilian Nationals I was still a purple belt in 2016. So it was really special.

You showed a lot of new parts of your game at Brasileiros. Was that part of your plan going into the event?

Yes. I’m always looking for evolution as an athlete, both physically and technically, but especially the technical part. The more complete we seek to be, the more chance we have of success.

You submitted all of your opponents with chokes from the back. Are your submissions and back attacks things you've been putting extra emphasis on in training?

Yes, lately I’ve been working a lot on the attack from the back and the search for the submission in my training sessions. I feel that I’ve had a good evolution in this area and I’m happy that this resulted in 3 submissions from the back.

Can you talk about your teammates performances at Brasileiros?

The team in general had a great performance. At black belt I was happy with Luiza’s victory and also with Lucas Pinheiro’s victory with an excellent performance winning all fights by submission.

The Worlds are coming up in less than a month. What are your goals for the 2023 World Championships?

My goal is always the highest place on the podium, always looking to fight forward with heart, technique, and in search of submission. I’ve been dedicating myself a lot in training and I feel prepared to win another world title.

You can catch Gustavo's next competition, the 2023 World Championships, exclusively on FloGrappling.