Having had time to fully digest and analyze everything that went down last week in Abu Dhabi at the 2016 World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championships, let’s use that knowledge to look ahead to the IBJJF Worlds (scheduled for Jun 1-5) and see how things stand. 

Brazilians Still Dominate

First off the Brazilians proved that even against the 100 different nationalities who came to compete at World Pro, they still come out on top. In the adult male black belt divisions, Brazilians won all but two medals. I’m not talking about golds here, I’m talking gold, silver and bronze. They took 19 out of 21 medals, with only Faisal Al-Kitbe of the UAE and Alexander Trans of Denmark winning a bronze medal each. 

The female black-brown belt divisions weren’t much different. 12 out of 15 medals went to Brazilians, although dual nationality Brazilian-American Mackenzie Dern helped the USA technically take two medals (with a gold and a bronze), while Canada’s Yacinta Nguyen Huu managed a bronze in the -70kg division. 

Looking ahead to the Worlds we may see some American athletes come through – look for guys like JT Torres, Gianni Grippo, AJ Agazarm, Tim Spriggs and Dominyka Obelenyte to challenge Brazil’s #1 spot. 

Erberth Santos vs Felipe Pena — The Saga Continues 

Fresh off their barn-burner at the Euros, Felipe Pena and Erberth Santos met in another epic clash that showed things are only heating up between these two exceptional grapplers. In Portugal back in January, Santos put Pena out for three months with a savage armlock, yet Pena somehow managed to escape and submit Santos later in the match. 

This time, Santos came out strong once again and mounted Pena – how often do we see anybody do that? Pena did his best but lost 7-2. If the stars align we could see them face each other once again at the IBJJF Worlds. The way things go between these guys, what could happen is anybody’s guess. 

Watch Out for New Girls Coming Through

I’m going to throw some names at you – Nathiely Karoline, Bianca Basilio and Tayane Porfirio. 20, 20 and 21 years of age respectively, these three brown belts are the new wave of top female Brazilian athletes. Nathiely took gold at the World Pro at 70kg, Basilio took silver at 62kg, while Tayane won double gold at +70kg and in the absolute. 

If these three girls go to Worlds, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll see them on the podium. 

Who Can Take Out The Brown Belt King? 

This is an understatement, but Nicholas Meregali – who just won double gold at the 2016 World Pro – has had a very good year. With a gold at Euros and double gold at Pans, he’ll be feeling pretty confident for Worlds – especially after taking ‘Best Brown Belt’ at the World Jiu-Jitsu Awards. 

So who are the brown belts who could stop him from doubling up at Worlds? The two most likely candidates for dethroning Meregali are teammates Gutemberg Pereira and Max Gimenis of GF Team. Pereira beat him in the absolute final at Euros but lost via choke in the final of Pans. Gimenis hasn’t fought Meregali since purple belt, but he’s a legit super heavyweight and took gold at World Pro in the +94kg category (you may also remember him from that beatdown at Copa Podio back in January where he racked up 29-0 points in a 10-min match). 

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Can Buchecha Get A Good Enough Camp In? 

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida was visibly unhappy with his coach’s decision to pull him from the World Pro the day before he was about to compete. With concerns over his lack of prep leading up to the tournament and how it would affect his performance, the Checkmate leadership decided to err on the side of caution and didn’t permit him to fight. 

Will the extra six weeks be enough to get Buchecha back into competition shape? He’s been out since Worlds last year and underwent a serious knee surgery. With no warm-up tournaments, he’ll be jumping back in at the deep end. Let’s see how that works out for him. 

All photos by William Burkhardt, except Buchecha photo in banner by Mike Calimbas