My very first coverage for FloGrappling was of the IBJJF 2016 European trials in Lisbon, Portugal, and I was pumped to finally experience European jiu-jitsu in person.

Among many things, this meant following Darragh O’Conaill, the black belt head coach of Dublin's East Coast Jiu-Jitsu Academy, during the tournament. I saw him on the first day of competition coaching a blue belt competitor in the semifinals who ended up suffering a heartbreaking loss—but the kid was good—and he made an impression.

Fast forward to this year's Road To Worlds and each of us has a bit more experience under our belts. It's time to profile Richard Bukovcsan as an up-and-coming athlete to keep an eye on later this month at the 2018 World Championships in Long Beach, CA. 

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Richy is competing in the featherweight division—one of the most competitive brackets of the event, typically featuring athletes such as Andy Murasaki of Atos, the Lunas brothers from Checkmat, and Yaroslav Blazhko out of ZR Team Ukraine.  

But the star power doesn’t faze Richy B:

"I’m fresh at purple belt, but obviously I want to win. I’m more informed about the scene that I was before—I know what I’m up against—and I want to fight those guys. To be the best I need to compete with the very best. I accept nothing less."

Richy has a strong work ethic. He's going to university for programming and works a part-time job to fund his jiu-jitsu career. But he's still griding it out on the mats twice a day, and the results are starting to pay off. He took gold at the Dublin International in December, and now the young man has his sights set on bigger prizes. 

We think he's got all the tools to do it.