2018 has belonged to Isaque Bahiense (Alliance). Riding a 27-match win streak and with tens of thousands of dollars of winnings in his bank account, the 22-year-old is a World, European and Abu Dhabi World Pro champion. 

Isaque has an incredible 81-9 win/loss record so far in a short black belt career and is currently on a 27-match win streak, unbeaten since January where he dropped a decision loss in Abu Dhabi. 

If Bahiense can keep that going through to the end of World Series of Grappling on Sunday, Oct. 7 then a statue should be raised in his honor. 

Besides his five match run to the 2018 World title that included Tommy Langaker, Jaime Canuto and Claudio Calasans, Isaque has also defeated Otavio Sousa, Gustavo Batista and Renato Canuto during the streak. It’ll be tough to keep that run going in a division this deep but Bahiense has the motivation of a $20,000 cash prize to get him there. 

Gabriel Arges (left) and Edwin Najmi

Two-time World champion Gabriel Arges (Gracie Barra) shockingly went down in the quarterfinals at this year’s Worlds. Arges’ only competition since then was against much larger opponents at the Heavyweight King of Mats, though he hardly seemed out of his depth. 

The World Series of Grappling will be a chance for Arges to make a statement if he can overcome the current champ in the division he ruled for two years. The pair have only fought once before at the black belt level, with Arges winning by advantages at the 2017 World Pro. Arges will be dropping from around 200lbs to make the 180lbs cutoff for this event. 

Joining Arges in the under 180lbs bracket will be his Gracie Barra Northridge teammate Edwin Najmi. Najmi was the 2016 World silver medalist and earlier this year took bronze at Euros. 25 out of Najmi’s 42 wins so far at black belt have come by submission, the Darce being the most common, and he has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting lightweights in the world. This all-out-attack style can hurt him though, as he’s 8-7 in 2018. 

Jonnatas Gracie

Ronaldo Jr

Atos brown belt Jonnatas Gracie took the $20k in this division last time around beating opponents including Sinistro, Jaime Canuto and Celso Vinicius. He and his teammate Ronaldo Junior (who beat Magid Hage, among others) are both registered again. They’re fearless, hungry as you can imagine and absolutely capable of taking out anybody in their way. 

Gracie has won nearly everything at purple and brown belt over the last two years, including a World double-gold performance at purple in 2017. Ronaldo was the purple belt World champion in 2018 and received his brown belt from Andre Galvao after. The pair are arguably  the top two brown belt middleweights in the world right now, and seeing how they match up with the last two black belt World champs in Arges and Bahiense should be intriguing. 

Jaime Canuto

Another consistent finisher in the bracket is Jaime Canuto (GF Team). Jaime has racked up an incredible 64 submissions wins so far as a black belt and finished in third place at the last two World championships. His fight with current Isaque Bahiense in the semifinal at Worlds was extremely close, with Bahiense coming out on top by an advantage. Jaime fought in the first WSOG, winning two matches before going down to eventual champ Jonnatas Gracie by referee decision in the semi. 

Keep an eye out for...

• 2018 brown belt middleweight World champ Leo Lara (Atos) has looked great so far at black belt, including a recent points win (7-2) over Jaime Canuto at the ADGS Los Angeles .

• Tarsis Humpreys (Alliance), Dante Leon (GF Team), Johnny Tama (Del Mar Jiu-Jitsu), Lucas Rocha (ZR Team) and veteran Eduardo Jamelao add to the depth of a division that should have exciting matchups from the early rounds on. 

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