The IBJJF European Championships are rolling, with brown belts taking the mat on Wednesday and black belts on Friday & Saturday, and the purple belts put on a great show to begin the week. There were tons of impressive performances, great battles, and wicked finishes that all point to these up-and-comers being some of the brightest prospects in jiu-jitsu. The open classes, the most prestigious brackets of them all, were won by DreamArt's Jeferson Santos and Sigma Jiu-Jitsu's Nikolett Kis - both emphatically winning by submission in the finals.

Jeferson's path was through heavyweight, where he initially lost in his division to Rogério Leite - whom he would then beat on his warpath to absolute gold. Nikolett also had to come back from a finals loss at lightweight to Eliza Nascimento - and just like Jeferson she would beat Eliza in her open class run (this time by submission). Eliza had to navigate a very deep lightweight bracket to win, and her final with Nikolett was very close - ultimately decided by a video review advantage that led to a split referee's decision. Her submission-heavy offense was on full display as she went gold-bronze on her day.

Bernardo Gatti of Alliance also won a very deep male lightweight bracket, winning six matches in a row for gold while showing off a varied and nuanced submission arsenal. He won over a very tough Dominic Manno of AOJ in the finals, a close match that we could end up seeing more as the season rolls on.

Emily Leyva put on a great show at female light-feather, constantly chaining submission attacks together with a lot of precision and intensity to earn Euros gold. Her biggest win was the quarterfinal, a wild submission comeback win while down on points, where she used a vicious triangle arm lock to advance. Emily fights with a lot of passion and excitement and she is one to watch as the gi season rolls on - and one to watch as a future prospect at brown and black belt.

Thierry Felipe of Marcio Andre Jiu-Jitsu established himself as the man to beat at at male ultra-heavy, winning with a powerful game that let him impose his will all the way to gold. He was one of three Marcio Andre Jiu-Jitsu purple belts to win gold. Caio Carreira also impressed, winning a very deep medium-heavy bracket by beating both Marcio Italo (who would also win absolute silver) and Davis Asare. The GF Team fighter was able to execute in the close moments and had an answer in every situation, showing skills beyond his experience level.

Both of the rooster champions, at male and female, were really impressive as well. Vitor Crizel of Alliance beat a pair of blue belt world champions to claim his gold medal at the event, and Sana Ndiaye finished off her final with an armbar to put a stamp on her championship performance.

IBJJF European Champions, Purple Belt Adult

• Men's Rooster - Vitor Crizel (Alliance)
• Men's Light-Feather - Hélio Caio (Marcio Andre Jiu-Jitsu)
• Men's Feather - Iryan Brooks (Nottingham - Total BJJ & Grappling)
• Men's Light - Bernardo Gatti (Alliance)
• Men's Middle - Caio Carreira (GF Team)
• Men's Medium-Heavy - Abdullah Nada (Roger Gracie Academy)
• Men's Heavy - Rogério Leite (Fratres Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu)
• Men's Super-Heavy - Luiz Henrique Santos Benigno (Zenith BJJ)
• Men's Ultra-Heavy - Thierry Felipe (Marcio Andre Jiu-Jitsu)
• Women's Rooster - Sana Ndiaye (NSM Team)
• Women's Light-Feather - Emily Leyva (Atos Jiu-Jitsu)
• Women's Feather - Mariia Klein (Blakz Team)
• Women's Light - Eliza Nascimento (Marcio Andre Jiu-Jitsu)
• Women's Middle - Taylor Pederson (Gracie Barra)
• Women's Medium-Heavy - Barbara Moraes Pinheiro (Fratres Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu)
• Women's Heavy - Danielle Olafson (Luiz Palhares Jiu-Jitsu)
• Women's Super-Heavy - Isadora Pereira (Fratres Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu)

Watch BJJ On FloGrappling

FloGrappling is the streaming home to the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu events and news coverage. FloGrappling is the streaming home of: 

• ADCC
• IBJJF
• WNO
• Fight to Win
• And more!

Join The BJJ Conversation By Following FloGrappling On Social

• Follow us on Twitter @flograppling
• Follow us on Instagram @flograppling
• Watch us on YouTube
• Like us on Facebook