The IBJJF Asian Championships in Japan returned this weekend after a three year absence, drawing top competitors from across the Eastern Hemisphere and around the world.

Two-time world champ Tainan Dalpra took the jaunt to Asia with a large contingent from the Art of Jiu-Jitsu team. Dalpra made his medium-heavyweight debut, winning both of his matches in style to capture the title.

The rest of the AOJ crew mirrored Dalpra’s success. Margot Ciccarelli and Mayssa Bastos won their divisions then closed out in the absolute final. Rookie black belt Shelby Murphey won the roosterweight division in her black belt debut. Thalison Soares closed out with former training partner Robert Oda in the light featherweight division.

Also from AOJ, Lauren Sognefest won double gold in purple belt.

But perhaps the biggest story from AOJ in Japan was that of 18-year old Cole Abate.

Abate conquered the brown belt lightweight division then received his black belt from Gui Mendes.

Abate was only a brown belt for 5 months. He was promoted from purple to brown on the podium in France at the IBJJF European Championships. With the recent IBJJF rule change, world champions at colored belts do not need to satisfy a minimum time frame before promotion, meaning Abate is eligible to compete at black belt this year.

Also of note at the Asian Championships:

• Igor Silva from GF Team won double gold after taking both the ultra-heavyweight and the absolute division.
• Thiago Macedo won three matches to collect lightweight gold.
• Korean athlete Yong Joon Park notched a huge victory in the brown belt absolute division, beating the purple belt world champ from Atos, Takeshiro Tanino Kauan in the open class final.
• Tanino conquered the medium heavyweight division, securing his first brown belt title.
• B-Team's Jozef Chen collected middleweight gold in the brown belt division.