The jiu-jitsu 'season' is a convoluted beast – and when the gi World championships finish in June, we see a wave of top colored belts make the jump to the next rank and hit the competition mats before the year is over.

There are a few open tournaments for the prospects to cut their teeth on, but all of the 'major' events tend to be No-Gi, the most prestigious of which is the IBJJF No-Gi World Championships, which is where we can see some of the most promising stars enter a bracket that is brimming with veteran talent.

 Make the jump to see the six freshly promoted six blacks who we believe are certain to shake things up this weekend.

Watch the IBJJF 2018 No-Gi World Championships LIVE Dec. 14-16 Live on FloGrappling

Mayssa Bastos - Light-Feather

Mayssa Bastos is an exceedingly unique member of the prospects list from the fact that she could be considered the favorite coming into the event!

The GF Team representative has simply been a nightmare for the established champions of the division, winning nearly everything in her path and doing so with Conviction.  Mayssa just took home the EBI belt last weekend, besting several of the women featured in the no-gi worlds brackets, and we think there’s a very strong possibility she’ll climb to the top of the podium again this weekend.

Mayssa Bastos takes home the belt at EBI. Photo: Blanca Marisa Garcia

Kennedy Maciel – Light Feather

Kennedy embodies hard work.  Success hasn’t come easy, and his path to black belt was paved with x highs and lows.  

But in 2018, the grind paid off.  Kennedy took home gold as a brown belt at Europeans, Pan Championships, and Worlds – earning his black belt on the podium.  The young alliance star has already done well in regional events, taking out some established stars and showing his absolutely ready for the step up in competition, but No-Gi worlds will be the first tim.

Kennedy faces another member of the prospects list, Checkmat’s Matheus Gabriel, and it’s sure to be an absolute barn burner. 

Kennedy Maciel vs Nicky Ryan – 2016 Studio 540 Superfight Series

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Kaynan Duarte – Super Heavy

Another athlete that stepped off the podium at worlds with two gold medals and a faxia preta in hand, Kaynan Duarte has been racking up the wins as a black belt and already taken on some of the biggest names in the game like Gordon Ryan, Adam Wardzinski, and Rudson Matheus. 

The Atos representative has basically run through all of the competition available as a brown belt, and has looked exceptional at his new rank – he took home first place at the Rio Grand Slam in November and his match with Gordon Ryan at No-Gi Pans may be one of the best no-gi matches of the year.  Keep an eye out on his effective use of the 50/50 guard and creative back take entries this weekend.

Kaynan Durate vs Gordon Ryan – 2018 No-Gi Pans

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Jeremiah Vance – Lightweight

Much has been said of Jeremiah Vance’s submission prowess – and with good reason – the 10th planet black belt has been pretzeling people up in ways that would make Cirque du Soleil performers grimace for years.  

Vance is in the lightweight division this weekend which features some of the most seasoned jiu-jitsu competitors including Gianni Grippo, Johnny Tama, Rafael Domingos, and Masahiro Iwasaki.  

Matheus Gabriel - Light Feather

Matheus Gabriel had the distinction of winning over 30 matches straight – most of them by submission – as a brown belt.  The Checkmat athlete went on to win the Worlds in 2018 in the featherweight division and was awarded his black belt shortly after.  

Considering his complete domination at brown belt, we’re very curious to see how the submission machine fares against the most elite competition the world has to offer. 

It should be noted that Gabriel has dropped down to light feather for no-gi worlds and faces another rising star – Kennedy Maciel – in his very first match. Don’t miss this one.  

Matheus Gabriel is also a four-division F2W Champion. 

Mauricio Oliveira – Medium-Heavy

Mauricio Oliveira has won worlds as a blue, purple and brown belt in three straight years.  

Read that again, because That’s freaking INSANE.  

Hailing from Bahai, Brazil but currently based in Toledo, Ohio Oliveira has continued his progression as an athelte by training with monsters such as Gutemberg Pereira and Dante Leon at the GF Team compound.

Oliveira is in the ultra-competitive medium-heavy weight division this weekend, featuring athletes like Josh Hinger who is going for his third IBJJF No-gi worlds title,  Matheus Diniz, Kit Dale, and Murilo Santana – and that's not even half of the elite talent.  Oliveira's first match is against Abner Sousa from BTT, and should he advance he'll face rising Gracie Barra star and Romulo / Felipe Pena product Servio Tulio in his second match.

  Keep an eye on this guy, we'll think he'll go far.