The 2019 IBJJF World Championship is shaping up to be one of the most exciting events of the past decade.  

The fact that this is the first World Championship to feature a cash prize for black belt winners has undoubtedly bolstered the ranks, and there are top athletes from multiple generations throwing their hats in the ring for this year's festivities.

Though the divisions are set, the brackets have yet to be released, meaning it's time to dream and speculate about our favorite possible matches. 

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Mikey Musumeci vs Bruno Malfacine – Roosterweight

After bouncing between the rooster and light-feather divisions, it seems that Musumeci has finally settled on his drop down to 127lbs. Though the seeding of the bracket will ultimately play a critical role, Musumeci there is a strong chance (and hope of ours) that he will come across the roosterweight GOAT and 10x black belt World Champion Bruno Malfacine in a match that would be of genuinely epic proportions.

As a two time light-featherweight World Champion, Mikey Musumeci is the most accomplished American jiu-jitsu athlete ever (in the gi). The CTA Brasa representative is going for this third world title next week, but he’s not without stiff competition.

Shane Jamil Hill-Taylor vs Kennedy Maciel – Featherweight

Despite both being among the most decorated competitors in their divisions, somehow these leading featherweights have never faced off against each other. 

Jamil Hill-Taylor had an infamously close match with Rubens 'Cobrinha' Charles – Kennedy's father – at the 2017 World Championships but  though it wasn't the TLI competitor's day, it kicked off the beginning of the legend that Jamil was to become; stormed his way back through the brackets to take home a World champion the following year.

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Meanwhile, Kennedy is currently experiencing the ups and downs that are common for a first-year black belt – we saw flashes of brilliance at No-Gi Worlds where he took home a gold medal, but his showing at the IBJJF major gi tournaments of 2019 have not gone his way.  We expect the alliance athlete to have made the necessary adjustments to shake things up at featherweight.

Amanda Monteiro vs Tammi Musumeci - Light-Feather

Amanda Monteiro burst onto the black belt in 2018 by winning nearly everything in her path –including the World Championship where she best two former champs Talita Alencar and Gezary Matuda.

While we're certainly looking forward to a potential rematch between Matuda and Monteiro, the name of the game here is dream matchups – never before seen – and we've yet to see Amanda clash the technical wizard that is Tammi Musumeci.

Tammi has been less active in competition these past two years as she makes her way through law school, but she's not someone to sleep; she looked sharper than ever when we visited Caio Terra's academy last week for our Road to Worlds Tour and will surely be a force to be reckoned with 

JT Torres vs Isaque  Bahiense - Middleweight 

JT Torres is another exceptionally successful American jiu-jitsu who's won just about everything EXCEPT a world title in the gi. An ADCC champion Torres has also taken home top honors at Pans, Europeans, and  No-Gi Worlds, but an IBJJF Gi World Title still eludes the Atos representative. Could this be his year? 

Anyone reading this should be familiar with Isaque Bahiense at this point.

The Alliance competitor is seemingly unstoppable, defeating nearly every single challenge in front of him;  Bahiense is undefeated on the year save a lone loss to Gabriel Arges at King of Mats back in January, and the superstar athlete has also been instrumental in projects off the mat such as the Dream Art Project that helps hone the jiu-jitsu and life skills of up and coming colored belts.

JT and Isaque are equally matched in pace and approach – the Atos jiu-jitsu competitor loves a good wrestling scrap, and Isaque is also keen to play on top. Both athletes will look to wear the other down by war of attrition. 

Felipe Pena vs Rudson Mateus – Medium-Heavy

In a surprising move, Felipe Pena has made the drop down to Medium-Heavy for the first time since 2017, placing him in a group of savages that contains competitors like Matheus Diniz, Lucas 'Hulk' Barbosa, and Tarsis Humphreys. While each one of those matchups is an exciting proposition, the fight we're eager to see Pena take on is none other than CTA's Rudson Mateus.

Why we do we need to see this match?  

To start, both athletes are excellent at taking their opponents out of their comfort zone. Rudson's closed guard is the stuff of nightmares and Pena's 50-50 mastery has seen him reverse the energy in his favor instantly.

Who can set the tone? Will Felipe be able to anticipate and counter Rudson's guard pull? Will Felipe's comfort in the 50-50 give Rudson the chance to pull off his signature armbar attack?  

Keenan Cornelius vs Kaynan Duarte – Heavyweight

Breaking the theme of the article, these two men have squared off twice before: once at ADCC in 2017, and again at World Series of Grappling, but this would be the very first time Keenan will be taking on Kaynan as a former teammate. 

You can bet that the pressure will be on Kaynan to represent the team and make a statement, on the flip-side Keenan getting his hand raised here would be a not-so-subtle message that he's made the right decision to leave Atos and go rouge.

There are also practical, technical features to this match that make it incredibly interesting.  

The two men know each other's games inside and out; Kaynan is even featured in Keenan's Lapel Encyclopedia – which indicates the 21-year old understands Keenan's confounding game, as well as anyone else at least – possibly could. Keenan has been very open that Kaynan was one of his regular (and toughest) training partners when he was at Atos, meaning the two have experienced all facets of each other's games.

Keenan has shown that he does well against explosive, ridiculously strong athletes like (such as Mahamed Aly), so Kaynan will need to rely on technique over power if he intends to pull off the win.

Nathiely de Jesus vs Beatriz Mesquita – Women's Absolute

Though the women's divisions are as stacked as they've ever been, the relatively small numbers mean many of the competitors have faced each other several times before.  

With that said, the absolute division this year is missing two major players: Gabi Garcia and Tayane Porfirio, meaning the title is anyone's game and perhaps delivering one of this most intriguing fights of the year: Nathiely de Jesus vs Bia Mesquita.

Despite regular appearances in the absolute division by both athletes, somehow these two monsters have never met one another, making this showdown an instant classic.

As an eight-time World Champion (among many other titles) Mesquita is undeniably one of the GOATs of women's jiu-jitsu, but two-time World Champ Nathiely is already well on her way to adding her name to that list.  

They are both submission hunters, though Bia's game could be considered the more old school as she as a preference for fundamentals and a killer closed guard, while Nathiely is an extremely creative guard player making extensive use of spider guard, lapel, and other modern, open guard variations. 

We see Nathiely pulling guard early, but Bia's top pressure is among the best ever seen, making the conclusion difficult to guess and absolutely necessary to watch.