London was the place to be for the top black belts to compete this last weekend. 

Jackson Sousa keeps momentum going

It's been a busy couple of weeks for Jackson Sousa, coming off a bronze medal at ADCC and double gold at the No-Gi Pans. 

Sousa, originally from Rio, is now based in London and used his adopted hometown advantage to good effect at the London Fall International Open on Saturday and Sunday. 

He kept the momentum from the earlier weeks going at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre by winning gold in the gi heavyweight division, then closing out the absolute with Maxmiliano Campos.

Jackson followed this up with a gold in the absolute no-gi division, beating the very tough Charles Negromonte of Roger Gracie in the final. 

Visitors come to claim gold medals

It's not a good sign for jiu-jitsu in the UK when only one medal in the gi divisions was claimed by a male British athlete. 

Arya Esfandmaz of Gracie Barra won gold in the super-heavyweight division, but every other gold medal was claimed by another nationality. 


​GF Team black belt Jake Mackenzie. Photo: MaggieLeft.com

BLACK / Adult / Male / Light-Feather
1 - Milton Bastos (Brazil)

BLACK / Adult / Male / Feather
1 - Konstantinos Nikolopoulos (Greece)

BLACK / Adult / Male / Light
1 - Jacob Mackenzie (Canada)

BLACK / Adult / Male / Middle
1 - Max Lindblad (Sweden)

BLACK / Adult / Male / Medium-Heavy
1 - Alec Baulding (USA)

BLACK / Adult / Male / Heavy
1 - Jackson Sousa (Brazil)

BLACK / Adult / Male / Super-Heavy
1 - Arya Esfandmaz (UK)

BLACK / Adult / Male / Ultra-Heavy
1 - Alan Vitor Oliveira Ferreira (Brazil)

BLACK / Adult / Male / Open Class
1 - Maxmiliano Oliveira Campos (Brazil) 

Watch Arya Esfandmaz catch an armbar in the super-heavyweight division

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