Most jiu-jitsu gyms have a tradition in which they promote students around twice a year. One of those "graduation ceremonies" takes place at the end of the year, the other usually might after Worlds in June.  

Students who competed and performed well at Worlds are often (but not always) rewarded with a new colored belt around their waists by their coaches, and we saw a number of competitors bumped up a rank following strong showings in the most important jiu-jitsu tournament of the year. 

Take a look at some of the notable grapplers who "leveled up!"

Promoted to Black Belt 
Gutemberg Pereira -- GF Team (2017 brown belt ultra heavyweight champion)
Hugo Marques -- Soul Fighters (2017 brown belt lightweight champion)
Hiago Gama -- Alliance (2017 brown belt roosterweight champion)
Dante Leon -- GF Team (2017 brown belt lightweight silver medal)
Amanda Monteiro -- GF Team (2017 brown belt featherweight champion)
Heather Raftery -- Atos (2017 brown belt lightweight bronze medal)
Pablo Mantovani -- Atos (2017 brown belt light featherweight bronze medal)
Rolando Samson -- Atos (2017 brown belt middleweight bronze medal) 
Pedro Ramalho -- Focus Jiu-Jitsu (2017 brown belt lightweight bronze medal)
Emma Xiong -- Gracie Humaita (2017 brown belt roosterweight champion)





Promoted to Brown Belt 
Jonnatas Gracie -- Atos (2017 purple belt lightweight ands absolute champion)
Kaynan Duarte -- Atos (2017 purple belt medium heavyweight champion)
Julia Boscher -- Soul Fighters (2017 purple belt middleweight champion)
Jake Watson -- Maracaba BJJ (2017 purple belt middleweight bronze medal)
Vanessa Griffin -- Team Lloyd Irvin (2017 purple belt lightweight champion) 






Promoted to Purple Belt 
Demian Balderrama -- Atos (2017 blue belt light featherweight champion)
Johnatha Alves -- Atos (2017 blue belt lightweight champion) 
Conner Deangelis -- Atos (2017 blue belt heavyweight champion) 

Know of anybody else who got promoted? Let us know so we can add them to the list…