Sunday at the Euros is going to be non-stop action with the adult black and brown belt divisions running all day. Almost all eyes are going to be on the black belts, but don’t sleep on the browns – there is some serious talent in Lisbon this weekend and in a few years these guys will be battling it out in the black belt ranks, so take note of their names. 

With 151 adult brown belt male competitors across all the weight categories, it’s no easy task to highlight just a few matches. There is so much talent that all of us here at FloGrappling will definitely be watching back many of the matches on the archives next week. 

There’s no guarantee that any of these matches will happen, as each grappler mentioned below has got a tough task in even making it through the opening rounds. But if they do, we could get some fireworks. 

Here are three brown belt matches I’m hoping to see at the 2016 IBJJF European championships. 

Alliance’s Hiago Gama – born in Bahia but training in Rio de Janeiro, will likely meet Atos’s Kristian Woodmansee in the semi-finals of the roosterweight division, a match I’m particularly looking forward to. Woodmansee has an unorthodox and improvisational game – you never really know what he’s going to bring! Gama favors the modern game: tricky lapel set-ups, inversions and more. It’s such a shame they weren’t on opposite sides of the bracket, as we could have had a great final out of this match. 

The middleweight final I want to see is Isaque Bahiense of Alliance against Tommy Langaker (he's in the blue gi up there in our banner image), the Norwegian Art of Jiu-Jitsu rep who had that barn-burner of a match on Copa Podio just recently. Bahiense is a no-gi brown belt world champ but just as tough in the gi – something he showed by winning the Rio Grand Slam just last month.

Tommy’s always-aggressive style mirrors Isaque’s, so we could be treated to one to remember if they both make it through their respective sides of the bracket. 

Even though we’re in Europe I’m really hoping for an all-Brazilian affair for the heavyweight final: Nicholas Meregali of Alliance and Gutemberg Pereira of GF Team. Pereira is a double gold no-gi World champ at brown belt as well as a champ at purple, and he’s certainly one of GF Team’s biggest prospects for the future.

Meregali, from Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil, is a lanky beast and I had the pleasure of watching him roll with Leandro Lo in a ‘friendly’ sparring session so I know exactly how tough he is. If these two meet expect a war. 

Watch all of the action from the 2016 IBJJF Euros LIVE or on replay ONLY here on FloGrappling