2023 kicks off with a bang with the first major gi tournament of the year, the European Jiu-Jitsu Championships. This year’s event will take place in Paris, France for the first time and has black belt divisions you will not want to miss. Tainan Dalpra, Kaynan Duarte, Mayssa Bastos, Fellipe Andrew, Gabrieli Pessanha, Luiza Monteiro, Nathalie Ribeiro, and many other highly accomplished black belts will look to win their first major title of 2023. Black belt divisions start on Saturday January 28th following the colored belt divisions, which kick off on Monday January 23rd. 

Dates: Monday January 23rd - Sunday January 29th

Location: Institut Du Judo, Paris, France

How to watch: FloGrappling.com

Tainan Dalpra Begins His Quest For Grand Slam

AOJ’s Tainan Dalpra is one of the most dominant black belts in the sport. In his short time at the rank, he’s accumulated titles at the Worlds (2022, 2021), Pans (2022, 2021), Europeans (2022), and the Middleweight Grand Prix (2021). Now, Tainan will pursue the Grand Slam, going for European, Pan, Brazilian National, and World titles in the same year. The only title Tainan has not already won so far is the Brazilian Nationals, as he has yet to compete in the event as a black belt. His first step towards his goal will be winning the Europeans. Last year he defeated Norway’s Tommy Langaker in the final via armbar that was beautifully chained together from a back attack. Tainan will have some new and some familiar opponents in his division in Paris. 2022 lightweight European Champion Espen Mathiesen, Lucas Protasio, and Italo Moura will all look for gold and to put a halt to Tainan’s unbeaten streak in IBJJF competition. After the Europeans Tainan will take part in a super fight of epic proportions as he’ll go 30 minutes with World, Pan, and European Champion Isaque Bahiense.

Gabrieli Pessanha Shoots For Sixth Straight Double Gold

Gabrieli Pessanha’s 2022 was one of the most dominant years of any jiu-jitsu competitor in history. She not only won double gold at every major championship she competed in, she also went undefeated throughout the entire year, finishing most of her opponents by submission. The 2021 World Championships were her first black belt double gold medals at a major event, and she hasn’t lost since. Now she’ll be going for her sixth straight double gold in Paris at the Europeans, an event she won four matches at last year, three of which were by submission. The only match she didn’t win by submission at the 2022 Europeans was against Nathalie Ribeiro, who will be competing as a lightweight again this year. Another lightweight who could potentially pose some problems for Gabrieli is Luiza Monteiro. The 2X World Champion has competed in absolute divisions before, winning the division at the 2011 Brazilian Nationals and 2014 Pan No-Gi and taking second at the 2019 Europeans. Middleweight Elisabeth Clay will also be competing in Paris following the best few months of her career at the end of 2022. She won double gold at the Pan No-Gi with all submissions and then won double gold at the Worlds No-Gi with a submission rate over 80%. Gabrieli and Elisabeth have competed against one another in the lower belts, but have yet to meet at black belt. Thalyta Silva, Maria Malyjasiak, Sabatha Lais, Leticia Cardozo, and Amanda Magda could also pose some interesting challenges for Gabrieli. 

Medium-heavyweight Amy Campo could be Gabrieli’s toughest challenge in the open class. In 2022, Amy’s first year as a black belt, she took silver in the open class at the Worlds in June and then won gold at the Worlds No-Gi in December. In the open class of the gi Worlds, Amy defeated Claire-France Thevenon, Yara Soares, and Ana Carolina Vieira to advance to the final against Gabrieli. The final was a very close match, with Amy spending most of the match on top defending Gabrieli’s sweep attempts. Late in the match, Gabrieli swept Amy, but was swept back immediately. The 2-2 match went to referee’s decision, where Gabrieli was unanimously decided as the winner. Both athletes have made significant strides since that match, so a rematch may look very different.

World And Absolute GP Champion Kaynan Duarte Returns to Euros At Super Heavy

In June of 2022, Kaynan Duarte won his second black belt World title. The Atos heavyweight then returned to the gi in November for the IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix. The event featured some of the best heavyweights on earth and awarded a $40k prize to the winner. On his way to the Absolute GP crown, Kaynan defeated Elder Cruz, Roberto “Cyborg”, and Gutemberg Pereira, utilizing his highly refined guard game to seal the wins. For the first time since 2019, Kaynan will return to the European Jiu-Jitsu Championships, but this time in the super heavy division. In 2019, Kaynan took gold at heavyweight and bronze in the open class, putting on one of the best matches of the event against Lucas Lepri. Joining Kaynan in the super heavy division are Marcus “Scooby” Ribeiro, Steffen Banta, and Harryson Pereira, giving him plenty of new opposition to test himself against.

Stacked Heavyweight Division Includes 2022 Double Gold Winner And Other Champions

Alliance Jiu-Jitsu’s Fellipe Andrew, the #1 ranked adult male black belt, was the double gold medalist at the 2022 Europeans. Fellipe won a total of eight matches with five submission finishes. Last year Fellipe competed in the super heavy division but he’s dropped to heavyweight this year. The heavyweight European Champion in 2022 was Adam Wardzinski, who will be back in the division this year. Adam went 6-1 last year and also took bronze in the absolute. Another 2022 European Champion is also in at heavyweight in Bruno Lima. The Portuguese athlete, who represents Alexandre Machado Association, won medium-heavy gold last year after winning three matches. 2022 Brazilian National Champion Rider Zuchi, 2021 Worlds bronze medalist Gabriel Oliveira, and 2021 World No-Gi Champion Devhonte Johnson are also in at heavyweight, making this one of the most competitive and difficult divisions to predict of the entire event.

Featherweight Division Loaded With Champions

The featherweight division at the 2023 Europeans is mix of competitors who are no strangers to major championship gold. Fabricio Andrey, Alex Sodre, and Leonardo Saggioro have all stood atop the podiums of major championships as black belts and will all be competing in Paris. 

Melqui Galvao Jiu-Jitsu’s Fabricio Andrey won the Worlds in 2021, defeating Shane Jamil Hill-Taylor in the final via triangle. Fabricio’s biggest title in 2022 came at the Brazilian Nationals, where he defeated Kennedy Maciel in the final via points. 

2022 was a breakout year for the Sodre brothers as they both won their first major gi titles. Diego won the Europeans and took second at the Worlds and Alex won the Pans. Alex will return to competition in Paris, France in search of his first black belt European title. The Nova Uniao standout is known for his aggressive jiu-jitsu, with lightning quick armbar finishes from a variety of positions.

Leonardo Saggioro, who won his first major title in 2012 at the Brazilian Nationals, has consistently been one of the best featherweight competitors in the world for over a decade. In addition to his two Brazilian National titles, he also has two silver medals at the Worlds and Brazilian Nationals and another at the Europeans. With a game that consists of half guard on bottom and pressure passing on top, Leonardo has been able to defeat many of the top featherweights in the sport. The Europeans will be his first major championship appearance since the 2021 Brazilian Nationals, where he took third place.

With both returning champions and newcomers alike, featherweight is a can’t miss division at the 2023 Europeans. 

New Black Belts Make Major Championship Debuts

At the 2022 Pans, Mario Alvarado took on the brown belt light-feather division, putting on the best performance of his career. He won gold with wins over Hiryu Niwa, Zach Kaina, and Thalys Pontes, three athletes who were promoted to black belt in 2022 and are expected to be top contenders in their divisions right out of the gate. Mario’s black belt debut came at the 2022 Houston Open, where he won both of his matches by submission. Now Mario will face his toughest test to date by a landslide, as he’ll have Diego “Pato,” Pablo Dutra, Tomoyuki Hashimoto, and Malachi Edmond in his division. 

Though Francisco Lo has competed in major championships as a black belt since his promotion in May 2022, so far they have all been without the gi. His black belt gi major championship debut will be in the medium-heavy division in Paris. Matheus Spirandelli, Pedro Machado, Jansen Gomes, and Tarik Hopstock will all join Francisco at medium-heavy and will provide interesting challenges for the Manaus native. With his next challenge already lined up in the form of a super fight with Ronaldo Junior in March, 2023 is bound to be a big year for Francisco Lo.

Steffen Banta’s brown belt campaign, which included gold medals at the Worlds, Worlds No-Gi, Pans, and Pans No-Gi, was certainly one to remember. He was promoted to black belt in December 2022 and is now a highly regarded black belt prospect. At super heavyweight he’ll have no shortage of challenges as the aforementioned 2X World Champion Kaynan Duarte of Atos is also in the division. 2022 Pan Champion Marcus “Scooby” Ribeiro is another elite black belt in the division that would be a huge test for the new black belt. 

Returning European Champions

Adam Wardzinski (2022 Heavy)

Luiza Monteiro (2019 Medium-Heavy)

Gabrieli Pessanha (2022 Super Heavy & Open Class)

Thais Loureiro Felipe (2022 Rooster)

Bruno Lima (2022 Medium-Heavy)

Mayssa Bastos (2019 Rooster, 2020 Rooster, 2022 Light-Feather)

Tainan Dalpra (2022 Middle)

Anna Rodrigues (2020 Light-Feather, 2022 Feather)

Nathalie Ribeiro (2022 Light)

Thalyta Silva (2022 Middle)

Espen Mathiesen (2022 Light)

Marcio Andre (2015 Feather, 2016 Feather, 2017 Light, 2018 Feather)

Thalison Soares (2022 Rooster)

Kaynan Duarte (2019 Heavy)

Tomoyuki Hashimoto (2020 Rooster)

Fellipe Andrew (2019 Super Heavy, 2020 Open Class, 2022 Super Heavy & Open Class)