This year has seen a shift in momentum. A huge crop of top brown belts have arrived to disrupt the status quo of the black belt ranks. 

Traditionally, promotions occur in jiu-jitsu twice a year: once around the time of Worlds (with many athletes getting their new belt on the podium) and again in December. We chose only grapplers who were promoted in the past couple of weeks. A number of top athletes got promoted earlier this year at Worlds and are already making waves at black belt, meaning they're not on this list.

Here we profile nine competitors poised to make 2017 a very interesting year indeed. 

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Kristian Woodmansee

Many people would say that Woodmansee's promotion to black belt was long overdue. He spent four and a half years at brown belt, fighting in the biggest gi and no-gi tournaments. Andre Galvao finally tied the belt around his waist, giving a much-needed shot of fresh blood to the roosterweight division. 

Videos link

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Silvio Duran

Featherweight Silvio Duran has steadily made a name for himself by collecting medals in various regional tournaments such as IBJJF Opens and Pros. Formerly of Zenith and now repping Shaolin BJJ, Duran was jointly promoted by Zenth co-founder Rodrigo Cavaca alongside Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro. 

Videos of Silvio in action 

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Felipe Bezerra

Checkmat's ultra heavyweight athlete Bezerra is a strong addition to a relatively shallow black belt division. The weight class has a few big names (no pun intended) but lacks the depth of talent as lighter divisions, so Bezerra will join the likes of Joao Gabriel Rocha, Mahamed Aly, and -- of course -- his teammate, Marcus "Buchecha" Almeida. His new jiu-jitsu black belt complements the one he already holds in judo. 

Match videos 

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Claudia do Val

A breakout athlete who only began competing in earnest at the end of 2015, Val took gold at Europeans and Worlds, instantly marking her out as one of the toughest female brown belts. She'll be a welcome addition to the black belt heavyweight division. 

Watch her matches 

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Cleber Sousa

Light featherweight world champion at brown belt, Sousa is a product of Almeida Jiu-Jitsu and one of two athletes from the team on this list. Just as you'd expect of somebody from the team, he's aggressive with a solid technical base and is a prolific competitor. 

Videos of Cleber Sousa's jiu-jitsu matches 

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Horlando Monteiro

Nova Uniao's middle heavyweight Horlando Monteiro got his black belt just five weeks ago and has already been tearing it up, winning gold at the IBJJF Paris and Berlin Opens (catching a very nice armbar on Thiago Sa in the final in Paris).

Videos of Horlando Monteiro's matches

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Isaque Bahiense

One of the most exciting brown belts of 2016, Bahiense was the most recent promotion of all the athletes on this list. He rounded out the year with a performance that most definitely earned him a black belt: a gold medal at the Colombian National Pro black-brown belt absolute division by beating Gabriel Arges in the final. It was a strong sign of things to come in 2017. 

Watch his matches 

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Bianca Basilio

Bianca Basilio was the last big female brown belt star to get promoted to black belt, following in the footsteps of other standouts including Nathiely Jesus and the GF Team crew. The Almeida JJ proved her worth with solid performances at tournaments such as World Pro, losing only to top black belt Beatriz Mesquita in the final. Look for her to make a lot of noise in 2017 as a black belt. 

Videos of Bianca Basilio's matches 

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Nicholas Meregali

King of the brown belts, Nicholas Meregali made his mark as the most winningest athlete at the rank by taking top titles (often double gold) at the Europeans, Pans, World Pro, and Worlds. He gave Leandro Lo an incredibly tough battle at the Copa Podio Middleweight Grand Prix, narrowly missing out on third place. Brown belts everywhere will breathe a sigh of relief to know Meregali earned his black belt on December 10 from his coach, Mario Reis.

Watch videos of Meregali in action