Weekend Recap: Paul Salazar and Polina Titarenko conquer the Open Weight Gold in the Argentina National

July 28, 2025

Taking place at the Parque Olimpico de la Juventud in Buenos Aires, the Argentina National landed in the South American country last Saturday, July 26th, and gave athletes of all ages, graduations, and backgrounds the chance to hone their techniques in a competitive setting while also scoring valuable points to climb the AJP global rankings.

Highlighting the event, the Ecuadorian Paul Salazar, from Team Predador International, rose to prominence in the Professional Black Belt category by taking the title in the Open Lightweight division. Facing Uruguay's Simon Tschernij (Ratao Jiu Jitsu Internacional) in the gold round, Paul saw his opponent take the advantage on the scoreboard early on but kept his cool and continued to watch for gaps in Simon's defense, finding his chance not long after and locking the winning submission around the two-minute mark to become the champion.

Another heavy hitter who stole the spotlight during the tournament was the Russian brown belt Polina Titarenko, who represented Commando Group in a truly impressive campaign in the Open Heavyweight bracket. Starting in the semifinals, Polina got a quick win over Argentina's Gabriela Corvalan (Team Brothers) to land her spot in the final, in which she faced her compatriot and AJP veteran Aleksandra Plemiashova (Universal Jiu Jitsu) for the title. With a very balanced start, the duel seemed to be headed for a stalemate until around the two-minute mark, when Polina launched a surprise attack and managed to submit her opponent once again, taking the win and the top spot on the podium.

Check out the full results here!