After winning double gold at the 2021 Worlds as a brown belt, Atos Jiu-Jitsu’s Pedro Machado was one of the most highly regarded black belt prospects heading into 2022. His first event of last year was the Pans, where he took bronze in the heavyweight division, earning wins over Fellipe Trovo and Rider Zuchi along the way. Pedro would go on to take home another bronze at the World Championships and gold at the Rio BJJ Pro, the Denver Open, and the Vitoria Open. He put together a 14-2 record in 2022, finishing his opponents with armbars in seven of those wins. Pedro spoke about his first year competing at the highest level in the sport. 

“2022 was a year of ups and downs and great struggles. I was able to learn and mature a lot in various aspects of my life. I have personal and professional goals for 2023, but I prefer to keep them to myself. But certainly the first is to get to the Europeans at my best and win the championship.”

As the 2023 European Jiu-Jitsu Championships quickly approach, Pedro is focused on bringing the best version of himself to the event. Potential opponents at medium-heavy include Matheus Spirandelli, Jansen Gomes, Francisco Lo, Wellington Luis, and Tarik Hopstock. With such high caliber opponents in the division, Pedro knows he’ll have to be on top of his game to get the results he’s looking for.

“I talked to my team and we decided to fight the European in the medium-heavy category. I have been doing hard training and I am feeling very well and am getting better every day. I always like to be focused on the present, to arrive to the day of the fight in the best possible way. I believe that at black belt a mistake is always crucial. You are always fighting against the best, so you can’t make mistakes in a fight. You need to be as focused as possible.”

Be sure to catch the stacked medium-heavy division and all the other amazing black belt divisions at the European Jiu-Jitsu Championships. The event starts on Monday January 23rd, with black belt divisions starting on Saturday January 28th. Pedro shared a final message ahead of the major championship in Paris, France.

“I would like to give a special thank you to everyone who helps us on the walk, teammates , professors, the whole team and sponsors, and a thank you to the IBJJF for raising the level of the sport.”

Watch all the matches from the 2023 Europeans live on FloGrappling.