Brown Belt Euros Recap: Sarah Galvão & Marlon Tajik Claim Absolutes
Brown Belt Euros Recap: Sarah Galvão & Marlon Tajik Claim Absolutes
After a crazy day of action, Atos's Sarah Galvão and Marlon Tajik claimed brown belt absolute gold at the 2025 European Championships
- Auto
- 1080
- 720
- 480
- 360
- 136
The action was intense at the 2025 IBJJF European Championships and as the dust settled, it was Atos claiming both the open class gold medals as Sarah Galvão and Marlon Tajik stood atop their respective podiums. There were really impressive performances across the board, with some of these brown belts looking ready to compete among the black belts very soon.
Sarah Galvão won double gold in the women's divisions, earning gold in the open and in a very competitive lightweight bracket. She went all-submissions through her divisional run and looked like a future star in her execution. In the open class, she beat a very tough Maria Eduarda Nogueira (who herself looked stellar in winning medium-heavy) in a battle between two brown belts who we already rank top-15 in the world. To cap off her absolute, she beat the much larger super-heavy champion Maria Raniele Alencar Lima, another bright prospect for Fratres.
- Auto
Sarah will be making her WNO debut at WNO 26: Pato vs Krikorian on February 7th, and tickets are available for that show in Costa Mesa, CA here.
Marlon Tajik was the men's open class champion, closing out with his Atos teammate Nata Tença after winning medium-heavy. Marlon was always close to breaking out last season in a big way but now looks like he's seriously leveled up. His divisional final against the very-tough Danylo Wruck ended in a flash with a brutal ankle lock from Marlon that got him his gold. Nata, to his credit, bounced back from a divisional bronze to dominate in the open before closing out.
Mateo Cardona of AOJ spent last season dominant at middleweight purple belt, winning in dominant fashion at the major level and setting himself apart from the field as someone to watch as a future black belt prospect. Now, he has dropped down to lightweight but kept that same movement and horsepower that make him so hard to deal with. Cardona was on fire here at Euros, outpacing the field for a gold medal here at his first 2025 major.
Lillian Marchand was really impressive in winning middleweight, as the Canadian Atos brown belt came back from an early 5-0 deficit to get a "Lilly-plata" for the gold medal. Marchand, also already ranked top-15 in the world after a strong AJP season, has a very submission-oriented game, typically from some kind of open or lapel guard, that lets her stay dangerous from everywhere.
José Steve of DreamArt had the Lisbon venue rocking as he fought his way to gold in the middleweight division, a big achievement for the Belgian grappler on his first big stage at this belt level. He showed a really versatile guard game and a calm, unflappable demeanor that he used to stay ahead of the pack. He had a lot of fan support and always found a way to score when he needed in the critical moments.
The Funegra sisters kept up their dominant ways with another close-out victory here in Lisbon in the light-feather division. After their younger sister took juvenile blue belt double gold, the twin sisters both made their way to the finals where Mia took the closeout gold medal. These two continue to mop up any bracket they enter, and it likely won't be long until these two are contending for world medals at the black belt level.