As we briefly mentioned in our earlier previews, we’ve identified 20(!) athletes who will compete for the first time as black belts at the 2018 IBJJF World Championships. 

20 new competitors are in the mix, pointing to a much-needed injection of fresh talent that will help drive the sport forward. 

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There are actually more than this, but the men and women who made it to the list should all be closely watched at the 2018 Worlds as they have the skills and competition experience to make some noise in the most important tournament of the year. 

Read on for a list of 20 first year black belts to watch at the 2018 IBJJF World Championships

First Year Black Belts at 2018 IBJJF Worlds

1. Alexssandro Sodre

A product of renowned coach Rodrigo "Feijao", Sodre is a light-featherweight representing Nova Uniao. We profiled him in 2017 as one of the brown belts to keep an eye on and he went on to become champion that year. Recently promoted to black belt, Sodre enters the hyper-competitive 141.5lb division. 

2. Amanda Monteiro

GF Team light-featherweight Monteiro is a familiar face on the competition scene. Brown belt champ in 2017, she received her black belt shortly after and has since won title such as the European Championship and No-Gi Pans as well as the Rio and Abu Dhabi Grand Slams. 

3. Andressa Cintra

A medium-heavyweight competitor, Cintra comes into the 2018 Worlds with strong credentials: she was weight and absolute brown belt champion in 2017. A Checkmat black belt from the south of Brazil, Cintra was promoted to black belt at the end of 2017 after winning the IBJJF South American Championships, her final tournament as a brown belt. 

4. Catherine Fuhro Perret

A well-known competitor from the Checkmat team, Perret took the brown belt lightweight gold in 2017 and has already made a name for herself at black belt competing in no-gi tournaments, super fights and regional IBJJF tournaments. 

5. Dante Leon

This GF Team prospect is often mistaken as American, but Ohio-based Leon is actually from north of the border and along with teammate Jake Mackenzie is one of the top competitive black blacks out of Canada. 

6. Erin Herle

Alliance black belt Herle– who trains out of Cobrinha's gym in LA– regularly placed on podiums as a brown belt and since getting promoted the flexible spider guard player got a silver at the 2018 Europeans in January. 

7. Fellipe Andrew

A submission machine with an absolutely vicious straight footlock, Fellipe represents Zenith Jiu-Jitsu and attracted attention during his stint as a standout brown belt competitor. This year he started well with a bronze at Pans, but it was his gold medal-winning performance at Brazilian Nationals that impressed us the most. 

8. Gustavo Batista

One of the most successful first-year black belts on the circuit, Batista closed out the medium-heavyweight division at Pans with Lucas "Hulk" Barbosa. A recent addition to the killer Atos squad out of San Diego, Batista is a threat to anyone in the division and a strong candidate to make the podium. 

9. Gutemberg Pereira

Another GF Team product, Pereira has been touted as the "next big thing" since he was a purple belt. A super-heavyweight physical specimen, Pereira won every major title as a brown belt before getting bumped up to black belt. He started off with conquests in regional tournaments but arrived in style at the Pans to take a silver against Leandro Lo in the absolute final, beating the likes of Fellipe Andrew and even Mahamed Aly along the way. 

10. Heather Raftery

Atos rep Raftery is best known for her no-gi pedigree (she kneebarred Michelle Nicolini at the 2017 No-Gi Worlds) but she competed in every major gi tournament as a brown belt. Mostly absent during this season she competed in a few smaller IBJJF Opens but will dive into the featherweight division at Worlds, one of the deepest in terms of talent at female black belt. 

11. Hiago Gama

Alliance has dominated roosterweight thanks to Bruno Malfacine's historic career (nine World gold medals and counting), but they have another potential champ waiting in the wings for when Malfa decides to focus entirely on MMA. Gama, who hails from Bahia but lives in Rio, began his year strong by winning the European Championships. 

12. Hugo Marques

Brown belt world champ in 2017, Soul Fighters athlete Hugo Marques placed on the podium at Europeans with a bronze medal. Explosive and hard to score on, he is a physical grappler with a smart understanding of the points game. 

13. Espen Mathiesen 

The super-technical Norwegian berimbolo expert may have missed out on the podium at Euros and Pans but he handily won the World Pro in Abu Dhabi and comes into Worlds after strong training camp in his native land. 

14. Nathalie Ribeiro

Checkmat's Nathalie Ribeiro closed out Worlds at brown belt with teammate Catherine Fuhro Perret in 2017. This time she'll drop to featherweight, where she will compete alongside teammates Karen Antunes and Jaqueline Amorim. 

Photo by Bane Visnjic

15. Pablo Mantovani

A member of the hyper-competitive light-featherweight ranks, Mantovani fought his way to the final against Joao Miyao at Pans in March, losing three sweeps to two (6-4), while at Euros he took bronze. It will be a surprise if he doesn't make it to the podium. 

16. Raquel Canuto

Middleweight competitor Canuto is a well-rounded combat athlete: she competes both gi and no-gi, and even has multiple MMA fights to her name. Since placing second at Worlds in 2017 as a brown belt Canuto has gone on to show she is right there at the top of the game by winning No-Gi Worlds and placing second at Europeans. 

17. Renata Marinho

Marinho is another brown belt Worlds champ returning to try her luck at black belt. A middleweight competitor, this year so far she placed third at Europeans and second at Brazilian Nationals. Representing Alliance, she competes out of Sao Paulo and trains under Fabio Gurgel. 

18. Rudson Matheus

2017 brown belt double gold cahmpion and a fascinating competitor to watch, Rudson Mateus has a very old school game that heavily utilizes simple set-ups from positions such as closed guard but he is a finisher with a savage array of submission attacks. Somewhat inconsistent, when he is on he is really on (such as winning Brazilian Nationals last month with a string of submissions) but bombing out of Europeans in the first round. He almost took Gustavo Batista's head off with a choke at Pans, and beat him last year at Worlds as a brown belt. 

19. Samantha Cook

The only British competitor on the list, Cook is another Checkmat athlete (the fourth on this list) and will compete in the middleweight division, having took silver as a medium-heavyweight at Europeans earlier this year. 

20. Tommy Langaker

Viking berserker Tommy Langaker is a fearless competitor who thrives in the mayhem of the absolute division. The Norwegian had spectacular moments at both Euros and Pans to take third in both absolute divisions, despite only weighing 180lb. 

Watch the 2018 World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship live

May 31 to June 3 | Long Beach, CA