The 2022 IBJJF European Championships are officially back, as the blue belts took the mats today in Rome, Italy to commence the first IBJJF tournament on European soil in more than two years.

The star of the day was the Brazilian ultra heavyweight, Joao Victor Nascimento, representing Dream Art, who relied on his smooth movement to capture blue belt openweight gold after closing out the weight class with his friend Italo Mendonca.

Hear from Nascimento below:

Mendonca officially claimed the ultra heavyweight gold for Kronos BJJ. In total, each of the blue belt gold medals went to a different athlete representing a different team. The day’s top blue belt performers included:

Roosterweight champion Wesley Texiera Pinto, who landed two submissions in three matches.

Light featherweight champion Pontus Agren, who won four of his five matches via submission inside of two minutes.

Featherweight champion Andre Cruz, who fought through a 60-man division.

Lightweight champion Lisander Lopes, who flexed his passing game all day.

Middleweight champion Enzo Lopes, who went two for four on submissions.

Marc Balasescu, who put his opponent to sleep in the medium heavyweight final.

Heavyweight champ Alberto Dusi, who entered as the bottom seed in the 18-man division.

And Dario Rumenovic, who won gold at super heavyweight.

The action continues on Wednesday, February 16, as the female blue belts and male purple belts take the mats. The black belt divisions begin on Saturday, February 19.