Who won what, how, and why you should care: here's your essential recap of the biggest winners in the black belt divisions at the IBJJF 2018 European Championships in Lisbon, Portugal, this past weekend.

Keenan Cornelius & Lucas “Hulk” Barbosa 

The two Atos team members shared the glory of closing out the absolute division together, with Barbosa taking gold on the official results. Keenan tapped his way through his side of the bracket, beating Rodrigo Martins via monoplata, Ricardo Evangelista via toehold, and Victor Honorio via omoplata. On the other side, Hulk tapped Eliot Kelly with a clock choke in less than a minute, beat Patrick Gaudio 2-0, and used a north-south choke to beat Tommy Langaker. 

Keenan easily won the heavyweight division with two subs in only two matches (armbar vs. Adam Wardzinski and choke vs. Helton Jose Jr.), but Hulk withdrew before he hit the podium while competing up in weight at ultra-heavy due to a knee injury he suffered against Gaudio the day before in the absolute. 

WATCH: 

Keenan Cornelius vs. Helton Jose Jr. 

Keenan Cornelius vs. Adam Wardzinski 

Michael Langhi

Michael Langhi in action.

Langhi's record-setting sixth’s European title was not an easy conquest, with the Alliance lightweight needing all of his technical abilities and toughness to win the gold. His opening matches against John Combs and Tommi Pulkkannen were straightforward enough, but a clash of heads versus Hugo Marques in the semifinal broke Langhi’s nose and caused a lengthy timeout and blood stoppage. He was able to come back and win and defeated the Japanese black belt Masahiro Iwasaki by just one advantage in the final. 

WATCH: 

Michael Langhi vs. Masahiro Iwasaki 

Michael Langhi vs. Tommi Pulkkannen

Marcio Andre

Andre won his fourth European title, this time back down at featherweight (where he looks best). The final was a repeat of 2015 when Andre and Gianni Grippo faced off. In 2016 Andre beat Paulo Miyao, and in 2017 he closed out the lightweight division with Luan Carvalho. At featherweight, Andre has an edge over the rest of the competition that is proving hard to deny, as his 4-2 win over Grippo testifies.

WATCH: 

Marcio Andre vs. Gianni Grippo

Marcio Andre vs. Issac Doederlein

Tayane Porfirio

2018 weight and absolute champ, Tayane Porfirio

Porfirio started 2018 strong with a double gold, making this two years in a row she took both the weight and absolute divisions at Euros. A sole win over the Finn Venla Lukkonnen in the super-heavyweight category got her gold there, but Tayane worked hard in the absolute division, beating Carina Santi and Jessica Flowers via chokes and beating Beatriz Mesquita via points 2-0. It seems Porfirio came into the tournament with a serious injury, though we're waiting on confirmation exactly of its nature. Updates as we get them.

WATCH: 

Tayane Porfirio vs. Beatriz Mesquita

Tayane Porfirio vs. Venla Lukkonnen 

Marcos Tinoco

Tinoco made it to the European middleweight final for the second year running, but this time he closed out with Alliance teammate Isaque Bahiense and gave the youngster the gold. Tinoco took out the tough Nathan Mendelsohn via points in the semifinal, while Bahiense had to beat Jaime Canuto on the other side of the bracket. 

WATCH: 

Isaque Bahiense vs. Jaime Canuto 

Beatriz Mesquita

Mesquita works her open guard

Mesquita made (mostly) easy work of the opposition in her title run, beating Charlotte von Baumgarten 6-0 and then choking Erin Herle from the back in the lightweight final. Mesquita had an additional three matches in the absolute, choking UK-based Samantha Cook and beating Claudia do Val on points 4-0. 

WATCH: 

Beatriz Mesquita vs. Charlotte von Baumgarten

Beatriz Mesquita vs. Erin Herle

Horlando Monteiro

Monteiro (pictured above in main image) got through to the final in 2017 but fell short of his goal. Not so this time around for the young black belt from Nova Uniao, who turned 23 just the day before his final. The medium-heavyweight champ beat the very tough Renato Cardoso of Alliance 8-0 in the final, hitting a slick guard pass late in the match before racking up points for mount and back control. Of his other three matches, Monteiro won two via submission, with only the durable Charles Negromonte making it the distance. 

WATCH: 

Horlando Monteiro vs. Renato Cardoso

Horlando Monteiro vs. Viking Wong

Nelton Pontes, Hiago Gama, & Danielle Alvarez

Nelton Pontes

The local hero Pontes of Gracie Barra Lisbon got the biggest cheers of any finals match, thanks to his huge 18-0 domination of Arya Esfandmaz in the super-heavyweight final. Pontes fought to nonstop cheers and chants and used the energy to claim his first European black belt title. 

WATCH: Nelton Pontes vs. Arya Esfandmaz

A newcomer to the black belt ranks, Gama got Euro roosterweight gold with a kneebar win over Cleito Soares. 

WATCH: Hiago Gama vs. Cleito Soares

Alvarez of Gracie Humaita won middleweight gold in her first major IBJJF gi tournament as a black belt, beating Raquel Canuto for gold. Alvarez also beat Renata Marinho en route to the title. 

WATCH: Danielle Alvarez vs. Raquel Canuto