The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation returned to London, England for the second time in 2023 for the London Fall Open. The event featured gi and no-gi divisions and took place on Saturday, October 14th and Sunday, October 15th. CheckMat, London Fight Factory, Gracie Barra, and ZR Team were among the top teams of the event and showcased the ever evolving technical level of the UK jiu-jitsu scene.

The standout competitor from the event was Kjetil Lydvo of Frontline Academy. Kjetil had a total of five matches, two in the ultra heavyweight category and three in the open class. “My matches went very smoothly in this competition. I'm very happy with the overall performance. I managed to control the pace of the matches and ended up submitting all of my opponents except for the open weight final. I'm very happy to have a good open weight run since it has been somewhat a curse of mine to do well in the weight division and then have a more relaxed mindset in the open to then be punished for it. So I'm very happy to overcome that! I'm not sure about my next tournament yet, but it will most likely be the Dublin Open and I'm 100% going for the Europeans in Paris in January!”

Astrid Scholin of CheckMat was the female absolute champion, taking gold in her black belt debut. “It was my first competition as a black belt so I didn’t really expect or hope for anything which took away some of the nerves,” explained Astrid. “But the matches were very fun and I look forward to the rest of this season.”

Another CheckMat athlete, Lucas Protasio, also put on a stellar performance in London.  “My first fight was against a judoka. We had a tough fight but I was able to win on points after sweeping him,” stated Lucas. “In my second fight against Max Lindblad, I pulled guard and stood up with a single leg to get the sweep. I stayed on top trying to pass his guard but we stood up and I pulled again. Max almost took my back at one point but I ended up winning the match 4-0.”

Visit ibjj.com/results for full results from the 2023 London Fall Open.

2023 London Fall Open team results:

1. CheckMat

2. London Fight Factory

3. Gracie Barra

2023 London Fall No-Gi Open team results:

1. Gracie Barra

2. CheckMat

3. ZR Team