The IBJJF No-Gi Worlds kicks off this weekend live from Las Vegas, NV, available exclusively on FloGrappling. From top to bottom, this stands to be one of the best years in history for the tournament as tons of elite grapplers have flocked to the event to take their shot at world gold.

The black belts start on Friday and finish on Saturday, with action up until the quarterfinals on day one. This tournament has a ton of ranked athletes, returning medalists & champions, and talented grapplers who are looking to break through.

Men's Rooster, 122.6lbs

It's a very deep field at roosterweight, with the 2022 IBJJF No-Gi World Champion Osamah Almarwai back to defend his title against a field of ranked contenders. His path to gold will likely go through Chris Tran, who took silver a couple months ago at Pans. In the other semifinal, Roiter Lima has rookie black belt Everton Teixeira who has had some big wins this year.

On the other side, Shay Montague is someone a lot of people are going to be watching. He won brown belt Worlds this year and this is his biggest tournament as a black belt yet. His likely quarterfinal is the Pan champion John Stapleton. Also in the mix will be Estevan Martinez, who recently competed at WNO.

Men's Light-Feather, 136lbs

The 1-seed Bebeto Oliveira has to start out his run with a tough test in AOJ's Zach Kaina. After that, he will likely need to go through Emilio Alejandro Hernandez Rodriguez, who is always in the mix at these world-level IBJJF tournaments.

On the other side, Edwin Ocasio is here on a mission to build off of his Pan title and defend his 2022 World title. Like Carlos, his first round match is a tough one in Demian Balderrama of Atos. Lucas Feitosa, Vlor Boyer, and Kalel Nascimento all add depth but Junny has a great chance of repeating here.

Men's Feather, 149lbs

Diego 'Pato' Oliveira is the #1 ranked featherweight in the world and that newly won ranking will be on the line this weekend when he tries to navigate his way to IBJJF gold. In his way early will be the winner of Kennedy Maciel & David Weintraub. Kennedy is a former ADCC Finalist who Pato took out of action with an injury in 2022. The other quarterfinal has a good one when Julian Espinosa takes on one of Europe's best, Tom Halpin.

The defending champion here is Gianni Grippo, who has always excelled under IBJJF rules no-gi. He has a solid path to the finals, but will have some tough guys like Alexandre Vieira and Marco Mendes in his way.

Men's Light, 162.6lbs

Carlos Henrique won Pans and is the returning silver medalist here, making the DreamArt rep the man to beat. In his way though, will be one of Canada's best in Max Hanson (if he gets past Daniel Sathler). Hanson and Henrique competed at Pans, with Henrique winning 2-0 and a rematch is expected to also be a close affair.

On the other side, the top two seeds are Euros champ Marcus Phelan and Deandre Corbe, both of whom have all the talent to win gold here. Complicated matters will be the young Kade Tsitos and Daniel Soares who may meet them in the quarters, respectively. This can be one of the most wide open weights in terms of potential contenders.

Men's Middle, 175.6lbs

It's no easy opening round match for 1-seed Taza, as he takes on Johnatha Alves in a WNO rematch. Whoever wins that match will likely see the winner of Jaime Canuto/Bruno Matias in their quarterfinal. The other side of that semifinal will have whoever can emerge from a tough few pairings; Jon Blank vs John Combs first round, and Kieran Kichuk vs Michael Perez second round.

There's no shortage of good early matches here when Elijah Dorsey, the breakout ADCC Trials Champion, takes on 2 seed Tommy Langaker second round. We expect nothing short of a dog fight between those two, they are so tough and talented. Whoever wins that one sees Tarik Hopstock in a likely quarter, and the winner of Fabio Caloi vs previous world champion Johnny Tama has a great path to a semifinal on the other side.

Men's Medium-Heavy, 188.6lbs

Your one seed here is Sebastian Rodriguez, the defending champ. His path will include names like Mateus Rodriguez of AOJ and potentially Rene Sousa. Whoever meets him in the semifinal will have a difficult road. Ronaldo Junior, the longtime Atos standout, will have 2023 IBJJF World Champion Jansen Gomes in a battle of great champions. Later, they will have Clay Mayfield, the Pan silver medalist who has split matches recently with Rodriguez.

Last year's silver medalist is also back, Felipe Cesar Silva, and he will have an early test in David Garmo before a big quarter with Pan Champ Francisco Lo. The other side has a battle of very strong grapplers in Angelo Claiborne vs Rafael Paganini, and whoever wins that likely makes the semifinal.

Men's Heavy, 202lbs

The two sides of this bracket are unweighted, where one side has ended up with a lot more talent than the other. On the bottom half, I would expect it to be the winner of Jacob Couch and Adam Wardzinski, although Jacob has a tough rookie black belt Jose Jurema early.

The other side has a lot of tough people, though, with Roberto Jimenez taking on the winner of Matheus Lutes/Charles Negromonte in one quarter and the other quarter having great guys in Elder Cruz, Sean Yadimarco, and Javier Barter. It's going to be a meat grinder of a bracket for someone to have to navigate.

Men's Super-Heavy, 215lbs

The man to beat here appears to be former ADCC finalist Vinicius Ferreira, but he also has the far tougher half of the bracket. Early on he will have the winner of Elioenaiu Braz and Luccas Lira, two young black belts, and then whoever comes out of the other quarter of Adam Bradley/Felipe Costa/Helton Jose/Thomas Bracher.

Men's Ultra-Heavy, Unlimited

I see this weight as a three horse race, with returning champion Fellipe Trovo, ADCC Trials champion Heikki Jussila, and Pan double gold Roosevelt Souza. Trovo and Heikki will face off in the semifinals, with the winner getting Roosevelt.

Women's Rooster, 103lbs

This is a really small bracket with only four competitors. Mayssa Bastos stands above the rest, but her first round matchup with Faye Cherrier will have some intrigue.

Women's Light-Feather, 114lbs

While Mara Kelly is the one seed, she stil has maybe her toughest test on her side with 2023 gi World Champion Jessa Khan in the semifinal. Whoever wins that gets the likely winner of defending champion Tammi Musumeci and Dorothy Tran.

Women's Feather, 125lbs

This is one of the best weights in the entire tournament. The one seed is Talita Alencar, who hopefully shows up but does have a late notice UFC fight coming up so may focus on that. If she does, with Alex Enriquez as the 3 seed she will be getting a tough fight in the semi. The other half has two 2022 silver medalists first round in Jasmine Rocha and Jessica Crane. Whoever wins that likely sees Adele Fornarino, fresh off Asian Trials.

Women's Light, 136lbs

Ffion Davies is the one to watch here as the one seed, ADCC champ, gi world champion, and a very high pound for pound ranking. Early she will likely see Vitoria Vieira, who is talented, and could see some combination of Jaine Fragoso, Julia Maele, and Amanda Bruse in her final. I would favor Bruse, the Atos athlete, to carry through.

Women's Middle, 147lbs

This is a pretty wide-open weight class, one of the more wide open ones of the tournament. One half will have Rosa Walsh and Deise Leonanjo in a likely semifinal, though Thamara Ferreira Silva will factor in.The winner of that likely has Julia Boscher, the one seed, or Gabi McComb in the finals.

Women's Medium-Heavy, 158lbs

The defending champion Amy Campo will be tough for anyone to knock off, and a likely candidate for double gold. In her way will be Elizabeth Mitrovic, Maggie Grindatti, and Ane Svendson, though all of them are on the other side so only one will eventually make it to Campo.

Women's Heavy, 169lbs

Andressa Cintra continues to try to add to her incredible list of accomplishments. In her way though is a loaded field, including Maria Vincenti and Luciana Mota on her side. On the other half, Rafaela Guedes meets Bridget Mceliece in a tough first round bout and Maria Malyjasiak takes on Maria Ruffato in a contest of two of the grittiest competitors in any division.

Women's Super-Heavy, Unlimited

Kendall Reusing is the likely class of this super-heavy field, that only has four competitors entered.