Isaque Bahiense, Hugo Marques, Jose Carlos Lima, and Gerard Labinski were among the young black belts who shone at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in Rio de Janeiro this weekend.

Bahiense met another fresh black belt in the final in Gustavo Batista, who only received his black belt last month. They fought their way through a stacked 85kg bracket with the match going in Bahiense’s favor via advantage points in a close affair.

Hugo Marques emerged top of a hyper competitive 77kg division, beating out Ricardo Lima of NS Brotherhood via a takedown scored earlier in the match.

Jose Carlos Lima, who got his black belt in 2016, is a rooster weight tipped for great things. Lima faced first-year black belt David Herrera in the final and won his first major title at black belt by beating the Soul Fighters rep via advantages.

Gerard Labinski is a relatively unknown athlete from Poland, who again was only promoted to black belt this year. He won the 110kg division, beating GF Team’s Igor Silva in the final via a single advantage. Labinski was repping Leandro Lo’s NS Brotherhood team.

Ana Carolina Vieira crushed the 70kg division, winning all three matches by submission. She’s had one of the most successful years of any black belt, male or female. Amanda Monteiro of GF Team is another first-year black belt and a fine example of the work GF Team is doing in producing top women's black belt competitors.

Check out the finals below... 

MEN'S

56kg Jose Carlos Lima vs. David Herrera – watch video

62kg Hiago George vs. Joao Miyao – watch video

69kg Joao Goncalves vs. Rafael Mansur – watch video

77kg Hugo Marques vs. Ricardo Lima – watch video

85kg Isaque Bahiense vs. Gustavo Batista – watch video

94kg Patrick Gaudio vs. Guilherme Santos – watch video

110kg Gerard Labinski vs. Igor Silva – watch video

WOMEN'S

55kg Amanda Monteiro vs. Mayara Abrahao – watch video

62kg Beatriz Mesquita vs. Bianca Basilio – watch video

70kg Ana Carolina Vieira vs. Thamara Silva – watch video

90kg Claudia do Val vs. Heloisa Ferreira