Liberdade Jiu Jitsu Takes 1st Overall at the 2026 Nashville Fall IBJJF Open
It was a big weekend for Nashville BJJ and an even bigger one for the Liberdade Jiu Jitsu family.
At the 2026 Nashville Fall International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship, our athletes competed under the Ares BJJ association banner and finished 1st place overall as a team with 237 points.
The championship brought competitors from academies throughout Tennessee and across the country to Franklin, just south of Nashville. When the final results were posted, Ares BJJ stood at the top of the academy rankings—finishing ahead of Pedigo Submission Fighting with 176 points and Gracie Barra with 173.
For us, however, this weekend was about much more than an academy trophy.
It was about watching white belts, blue belts, purple belts, brown belts and black belts from the same team step onto the competition mats. It was about coaches becoming competitors, teammates becoming corner men and women, and everyone representing the same culture we work to build every day at Liberdade.
The medals are something to celebrate.
But what produced those medals matters even more.
Ares BJJ Takes First Place at the Nashville IBJJF Open
The final IBJJF academy standings were:
🥇 1st — Ares BJJ: 237 points
🥈 2nd — Pedigo Submission Fighting: 176 points🥉
3rd — Gracie Barra: 173 points
That gave Ares BJJ a 61-point advantage over second place.
Our athletes produced podium finishes across multiple age groups and belt levels, from juvenile and adult competitors through the Masters divisions.
The team brought home approximately:
🥇 20 Gold Medals🥈 14 Silver Medals🥉 11 Bronze Medals
45 total podium finishes.
Some athletes also competed in the absolute—or Open Class—division after their weight category. That means the medal total includes athletes who reached the podium more than once during the tournament.
And that is an important distinction.
This wasn’t 45 different people each collecting a medal.
Some competitors stepped onto the mat repeatedly, competed in their weight class, then chose to test themselves again against athletes of different sizes in the Open Class.
That willingness to keep competing after an already difficult division says a lot about the mentality of the team.
Nashville BJJ Athletes Competing at Every Level
One of our favorite things about this result is the range of experience represented on the podium.
Competition Jiu Jitsu sometimes looks intimidating from the outside. People see black belts competing and assume tournaments are only for elite athletes who have spent their entire lives training.
That isn’t what this weekend showed.
Ares athletes reached the podium at white, blue, purple, brown and black belt.
Nicholas Satterlee took gold in the Adult White Belt Feather division.
Lucio A Cruz-Nolasco won the Adult White Belt Heavy division, while Breck Anthony Bishop took gold at Ultra Heavy.
At blue belt, Shane Antonio DeJesus won Adult Medium Heavy and later added a bronze medal in the Adult Blue Belt Open Class. Afonso Klein captured gold in the Adult Blue Belt Heavy division.
Carson Santos Streicher won Adult Brown Belt Feather and then added bronze in the Brown Belt Open Class.
On the women’s side, Lisa Victoria Finck won the Adult White Belt Light division, Allison Kathleen Westbrook won Adult White Belt Super Heavy, and Shawna Marie Barrow took gold at Adult Brown Belt Medium Heavy.
And those were only part of the results.
The performance continued throughout the Masters divisions.
That matters because Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is one of the unusual sports where adults can begin later in life and still have meaningful opportunities to compete.
You don’t have to have started when you were six years old.
You don’t have to be a professional athlete.
And you don’t have to compete at all to benefit from training.
But for the students who want to test themselves, there is a path.
Alex Barcelona Wins Gold and Takes Silver in the Absolute
One of the standout performances of the tournament came from Liberdade instructor Alex Barcelona.
Alex won gold in the Female Master 1 Black Belt Light division before stepping into the Black Belt Open Class and earning silver.
Winning a weight division is already an accomplishment.
Entering the absolute adds another challenge because competitors are no longer separated by weight.
That means technique, timing, strategy and composure become even more important.
For Liberdade students, there is another side to results like this that we believe is especially valuable.
The person teaching class isn’t simply talking about competition from something they did many years ago.
Our instructors continue to train.
They continue to test their Jiu Jitsu.
They continue to experience the nerves, pressure, adjustments and decision-making that their students experience when they compete.
Those experiences come directly back into the academy.
Milton Nascimento Adds Another IBJJF Podium
Liberdade co-owner and head instructor Milton Nascimento also stepped onto the competition mats.
Milton earned silver in the Master 3 Black Belt Super Heavy division.
For longtime students, watching Milton compete is a reminder of one of the core ideas behind our academy:
There is always more Jiu Jitsu to learn.
A black belt isn’t the end of the journey.
Neither is becoming an instructor.
Neither is winning a championship.
The learning continues.
That mindset is especially important inside a martial arts academy because students naturally follow the example created by their coaches.
When instructors continue training, competing and challenging themselves, that mentality spreads through the room.
João Carlos Nascimento Represents the Next Generation
Another meaningful result came from João Carlos do Amaral do Nascimento, who earned bronze in the Adult Purple Belt Feather division.
João grew up around Jiu Jitsu and represents another generation of the Liberdade family competing at a high level.
His result also illustrates how difficult an IBJJF podium can be.
At the adult level, athletes are competing against other serious practitioners who may train several times each week specifically for competition.
Every position matters.
A grip matters.
A takedown matters.
An advantage can matter.
One mistake can change an entire match.
That’s one reason tournament experience is such a valuable learning tool. Competition compresses lessons that might take weeks to recognize during normal training into a few intense minutes.
Win or lose, you discover exactly where your Jiu Jitsu works—and where it needs attention.
What Competition Brings Back to Our Nashville Jiu Jitsu Academy
Not every Liberdade student wants to compete.
And they don’t need to.
Our academy includes people who train for fitness, self-defense, confidence, stress relief, community and simply because they love learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
But having an active competition team benefits everyone.
Techniques Get Tested Under Pressure
A technique can look perfect during drilling.
Competition asks a different question:
Can you make it work when someone is doing everything possible to stop you?
Tournament matches expose details.
Maybe a grip needs to be stronger.
Maybe the setup needs another step.
Maybe the position works but the timing needs improvement.
Those lessons return to the academy and become part of future instruction.
Students Learn How to Stay Calm Under Pressure
Jiu Jitsu isn’t simply physical.
You have to make decisions while someone is actively creating problems for you.
Competition amplifies that pressure.
Learning to breathe, think and continue working when you’re uncomfortable is a skill that goes far beyond tournament Jiu Jitsu.
It’s one of the reasons so many people become passionate about the sport.
The Entire Team Gets Better
Competition might look like an individual sport when two athletes step onto the mat.
Anyone who has prepared for a tournament knows differently.
Behind each competitor are teammates who drilled with them, pushed the pace during rounds, helped troubleshoot positions and showed up to support them.
When one person prepares seriously, their training partners improve too.
When several people prepare seriously, the level of the entire room rises.
That’s what makes a result like first place overall meaningful to us.
The trophy belongs to the team.
You Don’t Have to Compete to Train Like a Competitor
People searching for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Nashville sometimes worry that a successful competition academy will be too intense for a beginner.
Those two things don’t have to conflict.
In fact, we believe high-level Jiu Jitsu and beginner-friendly instruction should exist in the same room.
A brand-new student needs fundamentals.
They need patient instruction.
They need training partners who understand how to work safely.
They need time to learn how to move before anyone expects them to perform like an experienced grappler.
At Liberdade, competition is available for students who want it.
It isn’t a requirement.
Some students will eventually decide they want to compete.
Others may train for years without entering a tournament.
Both are Jiu Jitsu practitioners.
If you’re completely new, our Adult BJJ Classes in Nashville are designed to give you a place to start regardless of your previous athletic or martial arts experience.
Why Train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?
The medals from this weekend are exciting, but most people who walk through our doors aren’t initially looking for a medal.
They’re looking for something else.
Some want a workout they actually enjoy.
Some want practical self-defense skills.
Some are looking for a new challenge after years of doing the same gym routine.
Others want confidence.
And some simply want a community.
Jiu Jitsu has a way of combining those things.
You are learning a martial art while solving problems with another person in real time.
You develop strength and conditioning without spending the entire class staring at a treadmill.
You learn how leverage and positioning can allow a smaller person to control someone larger.
Most importantly, improvement is measurable.
The technique that felt impossible during your first week eventually becomes familiar.
The position where you used to panic becomes manageable.
Then one day a brand-new student walks through the door and you realize just how much you’ve learned.
That’s progress.
And you don’t need a medal around your neck to experience it.
Building a Stronger Jiu Jitsu Community in Nashville
Nashville has grown tremendously, and the local martial arts community has grown with it.
Events like the Nashville Fall IBJJF Open give local athletes an opportunity to compete in a major organized tournament without traveling across the country.
They also bring together academies with different styles, coaches and approaches to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
We believe that is good for the sport.
Strong competition creates stronger athletes.
Strong academies create stronger communities.
And when our students step onto the mats, shake hands with an opponent, compete hard and shake hands again afterward, they’re participating in something larger than one academy.
They’re helping Brazilian Jiu Jitsu continue growing in Tennessee.
237 Points. First Place. One Team.
At the end of the weekend, the scoreboard said:
Ares BJJ — 237 points.
First place overall.
But a scoreboard can’t show the weeks of preparation behind those points.
It doesn’t show the early mornings.
It doesn’t show the difficult rounds.
It doesn’t show someone coming to class tired after work because their teammate has a tournament coming.
It doesn’t show the coaches staying beside the mat.
It doesn’t show the families cheering.
And it doesn’t show the student who didn’t medal but walked off the competition mat knowing exactly what they need to improve next.
Those moments are what build a team.
The medals are the result.
Ready to Try Jiu Jitsu in Nashville?
You don’t need competition experience.
You don’t need to be in perfect shape.
And you definitely don’t need to know Jiu Jitsu before coming to your first Jiu Jitsu class.
That’s what class is for.
Whether your goal is to compete someday, learn practical self-defense, get in better shape or simply challenge yourself with something new, we’ll help you start with the fundamentals.
Come train with the team that finished #1 overall at the 2026 Nashville Fall International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Your first class is free.
Comments