The Brazilian No-Gi Nationals caught fire last Saturday. Photo: IBJJF/Flashsport

The charming Brazilian temple of BJJ, Tijuca Tennis Club was the stage for another exhibition of all that’s best about the gentle art. The no-gi championship was a good deal for the athletes that battled the Rio heat without being further punished by the cloth on October 26.

Man of the hour Luiz Fernando Panza (Barbosa JJ), who recently took gold in New York, came to Brazil to get some more at the No-Gi Nationals. And he succeeded. Panza was ferocious and managed to win both the heavyweight division and the absolute.

Among women, the day belonged to Talita Treta (Ryan Gracie). She, who’s been flirting with MMA, having won a bout at Circuito Talent last month, was also a heavyweight and absolute champion.

Other standouts were Douglas Rufino (Checkmat), who beat Leandro Lopes (Soul Fighters) at light featherweight; José Tiago (Cicero Costha), who went past Victor Genovesi (Alliance) at featherweight; AJ Agazarm (Gracie Barra), who took gold over Kim Terra (Caio Terra Ass.) at lightweight; GFTeam members Vinicius Marinho and Jacob Mackenzie, who closed out the middleweight class; Claudio Cardoso (Gracie Barra), who defeated Gabriel Procópio (BTT) at the medium heavyweight final; Salomão Ribeiro
(Alliance), who beat Leonardo Corrêa (Atos) at super-heavyweight; and Gabriel Lucas (Checkmat), who took gold over Otavio Serafim (Barbosa JJ) at ultra-heavyweight.

Click here for the complete results.

Bernardo Faria became a two-time super-heavyweight world champion in 2013. Photo: Ivan Trindade.

Black belt Bernardo Faria has a few reasons to be proud after the 2013 Worlds , which ended last Sunday.

He was the only man to defeat Leandro Lo, in the quarterfinals of the open, with a sweep.

It was he who, at the end of the day, came closest to beating Marcus Buchecha Almeida, before getting swept with but seconds left in the absolute semis (in his weight class, Buchecha had been even in advantages with Alexander Trans, but was never behind).

He nabbed his second super-heavyweight world title (2012/2013) in an exhilarating final versus João Gabriel Rocha, certainly one of the sport’s biggest hopes going forward.

Bernardo Faria was the king of the sweep from half-guard at the Worlds, a technique some have dubbed “dental floss sweep,” because he holds the lapel and rubs it on his opponents’ legs like floss on gums.

With this near-unstoppable sweep and some dangerous submissions, the Alliance fighter got the best of Lucas Sachs and Luiz Fernando Panza and arrived at the final opposite João Gabriel. First he had to foil the Soul Fighters giant’s attempts at taking his back. Then he swept, mounted and celebrated with his Alliance friends.

And that wasn’t even all of it, as he later got to see his gym win the team championship title for the eighth time with a whopping 94 points. CheckMat (53) and Atos (45) completed the podium.