The Belgium-born Jose Steve captured his first world championship after years of trying with his trademark stoic style in full effect all through the bracket. Steve has taken silver in both his weight and the open multiple times at Worlds and now adds his first gold medal in what is the best performance of his career to date. He won five matches with XX submissions on the day to become the gold medalist for middle brown belt male.

Jose Steve is, to me, the Iceman of BJJ - and we may be living in a new ice age. He's always calm, even down or in a close match, and you never see a crack in his competition face. Add that to how cold he can be when delivering a submission finish and there's no doubt that this guy is hard to shake up.

Entered at middle with high expectations after an impressive season (especially at Euros and Brasileiros), Steve played a game that was marked by his use of his open guard, mixing his De La Riva hooks with spider and lasso controls. He plays with strong grips and aggressive leg pummeling that forces him into strong positions that he sweeps and submits from, including a nasty triangle from his back that was a threat throughout the day.

Early Rounds

Jose Steve definitely didn't come to play, and his opening round bout was all you needed to see to know that. He pulled to closed guard and used his preternatural sense of timing to tip his opponent over to mount and then, in a crazy display, secured the smother choke for the win.

The next match got tougher but Steve still secured the submission, navigating the dangerous leg locking of Jean Zinato before countering with his own arm triangle. As his opponent turned away, he kept the force up and still got the tap. No doubt Jose is one of those guys with a nasty squeeze, we saw some crazy pressure being applied in his first few rounds to qualify for the quarters.

Quarters & Semis

In these later rounds you really start to see why I call this guy "The Iceman". Jose had to navigate much closer, tougher matches as the bracket developed, starting with the quarters where his submission streak came to an end with a 9-0 victory. After that came his semifinal against Pedigo's Mahmoud Mazen Jabr. Jose pulled and started in on his De La Riva game early. After racking up an advantage early on a back take attempt, Jose would sweep to top and end up in a deep toe hold from Mahmoud. Unfortunately, the referees considered it a reap and called for the DQ.

Finals Match

It was razor close between Jose Steve and Pablo Oliveira as the tightly-matched brown belts fought hard to prevent any mistakes in their pivotal encounter. Jose jumped on the foot lock early to rack up an advantage but Pablo tied it by coming up from the double pull. From there it was Pablo navigating the guard while Jose retained and shot up triangle attempts. Late in the match, Jose attempted to wrestle up with good grips but couldn't put him down for a score. The match ended tied and would go to decision.

As they announced the winner of the decision in the World finals, Jose didn't even look around to check who they went with. The Iceman kept it cool and had all the confidence in the world he had earned that win. Jose won the gold here today with an unflappable demeanor and a very strong overall game. He really turned a corner in 2025 and now that he has this performance, I think we will only see better and better from him.