While jiu-jitsu has blossomed into an international sport since the first World Championships in 1996, there's no denying that  Brazilians maintain a firm grip on success at the highest level of competition.

But the tide is changing, however slowly.

We saw two American's take home gold medals last year: Mikey Musumeci and Shane Jamil Hill-Taylor; two non-Brazilian women became black belt champs in Rikako Yuasa from Japan and Venla Luukkonen of Finland. 

Three out those four names are back this year, plus a slew of contenders that we believe have serious chance to take home top honors at the 2019 World Championships. Read on for more. 

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Rikako Yuasa – Roosterweight (Japan)

Rikako Yuasa has won the black belt roosterweight title four years running. The Japanese athlete is exceptionally technical and a real veteran of the event. 

However, there is an influx of new blood in the roosterweight division this year that could shake things up, including Juliane Wiggers of Alliance and Mayssa Bastos from GF Team. Mayssa holds two wins over Rikako – once in Abu Dhabi at the 2017 World Pro (an event that combines brown and black belts) and again at EBI 18. 

Nerves and experience go hand in hand however, and Yuasa has proven she can rise to the occasion again and again; she'll likely face Mayssa in the final, and we're incredibly interested to see if she's made the necessary adjustments to take home her fifth title. 

Mikey Musumeci – Roosterweight (USA)

Already a legend in his own right, Mikey Musumeci is the only American EVER to win two World Championships, and this year the CTA Brasa competitor looks to become the ONLY two-weight American Champ by dropping down to Roosterweight division.

However, there are two severe obstacles in Musumeci's path: Bruno Malfacine, and Musumeci's coach and mentor, Caio Terra, are all on the same side of the bracket. If Caio gets past Malfacine, he will meet Mikey in the semi-final raising the question of who will get the pass into the final? 

Secondly, if Bruno bests Caio – we'll be in for a battle of the ages as the 10x roosterweight GOAT takes on Musumeci in one of the most intriguing matches we could hope to see. 

Gianni Grippo – Featherweight (USA)

There is no question that the featherweight division is one of the most competitive brackets in the entire event; however, some exciting placements in the brackets and unfortunate injuries have completely shaken up the pot.

To start, returning world champ Shane Jamil Hill-Taylor has been forced to withdraw from the event with an exceptionally ill-timed case of appendicitis. This is a massive turn of events for the division, Jamil he was one of the favorites to hit the top of the podium, and his absence has opened things up on that side of the bracket. 

Secondly, Isaac Doederlein and Kennedy Maciel are slated to face each other in the second round (Issac has a bye, and Kennedy needs to win his first match). 

It's unclear who will get the nod to advance as Kennedy is a fantastic talent and Isaac has been having the best year of his career and as such is a strong candidate for a non-Brazilian to make the podium.

Who will pass; Issac or Kennedy? 

Now that the context has been laid out for the division, let's talk about Gianni Grippo. The Alliance competitor has been grinding his way towards a Worlds title for the better part of six years, his best finish being bronze in 2017. So far 2019 has been a relatively quiet affair for Grippo– he took bronze at Europeans and opted to skip Pans and the Abu Dhabi World Pro.  

Perhaps that was the smart move for the typically hyper-active competitor, who in years past has basically competed at every tournament humanly possible. He'll be coming in fresh, highly motivated, and is in a powerful position in the brackets to make the semi-finals. Should he get past his first two matches, he'll likely meet rival Osvaldo 'Quexinho' Moizinho in the semi-final – a seriously tough bout for both competitors and one we look forward to seeing.

Ffion Davies – Featherweight (United Kingdom) 

Ffion Davies has been absolutely smashing the competition this year. 

The first-year black belt is one more title away from hitting the coveted 'grand slam' (gold at every major IBJJF gi tournament), and the smart money would be on her to pull it off. 

However, Davies will absolutely need to be on her A-game this weekend at the pyramid, there are no easy wins at the back belt level and ECJJA athlete has two tough challenges in front of her to make the final. 

First up she'll take on Nathalie Riberio from Checkmat – Davies holds two wins over Ribeiro and should feel comfortable facing her for the third time. 

The winner of the match will likely face Bianca Basilio. Davies bested her at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam London earlier this year, but Basilio is one of the most robust and aggressive athletes on the circuit, expect fireworks in this bout. 

It's our guess that the opposite side of the bracket will see Checkmat beast and 2018 World champion Karen Antunes make the final. Davies and Antunes faced off in a very competitive final at Pans 2019, with Davies taking the win by two points. 

Levi Jones-Leary – Lightweight (Australia)

We can't deny that we've been riding the Jones-Leary hype train since he defeated Lucas Lepri at the European Championships earlier this year, but in our defense, he's done a solid job of backing it up.

The Unity Jiu-Jitsu representative tore through the competition again at pans, beating Renato Canuto this time in the final.

But then something unexpected happened – Levi was submitted at the Abu Dhabi World Pro in just his second match – he didn't even get a chance to fight for third.  

Surprising as it was, the loss hasn't seemed to affect his mindset – even just minutes removed from the shocking result, Levi was candid about the motivation he receives from disappointing results and reminded us that a similar scenario played out in 2018: his only loss was also at World Pro and he rallied back to take gold at Worlds.

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The lightweight division is exceptionally talent-rich and includes Lucas Lepri, Renato Canuto, Victor Silverio, Francisco "Sinistro" and so many more. A strong showing from Jones-Leary should permanently shut down any chatter about being a one-hit wonder. 

Levi will likely run into Sinistro in his second match, and after that, it's challenging to discern the competitive brackets.  With that said we'd like to see a rematch with Leo Lara in the quarterfinals and Renato Canuto in the semis.

JT Torres – Middleweight (USA)

JT Torres has a monumental task in front of him if he is to make even the semi-finals of the World Championships this year.  

He'll need to win his opening round, face the winner of Max Lindblad and Manuel Ribamar, and then in all likeliness take on defending Champion Isaque Bahiense in the Quarterfinal. 

If that's not a completely insane bracket, we don't know what is. 

Bahiense is indeed a mighty challenge for any athlete – he's this author's personal pick to win the division, but Torres may just have the recipe to hand Isaque his second loss of the year. Should Torres get past the Alliance berserker, he will be in prime position to take home the ever-elusive world title. 

Tommy Langaker – Middleweight (Norway)

Tommy Langaker is one of the most feared middleweights in the world. 

A 2018 Worlds silver medalist, 2019 European Silver medalist, and 2019 Abu Dhabi World Pro Champion, Not only is Langaker consistently among the most successful middleweights on the planet; he's a true joy to see in action – his stylish and deadly keymaster guard and matrix back take system has been the downfall of many keen athletes.

As evidenced in JT Torres' entry above, Tommy's road to gold in the middleweight division is supremely challenging. He'll likely need to defeat Michael Liera Jr and Marcos Tinoco to earn a  bid to the semi-final. There he'll face anyone from Claudio Calasans, DJ Jackson, Dante Leon, Gabriel Arges, or Nate Mendelsohn and we're seriously looking forward to any of those matches. 

Keenan Cornelius – Heavyweight  (USA)

Is it time for the face of American jiu-jitsu to finally claim a black belt world title? 

it's been a tumultuous year for Cornelius– there's no denying that– but from all indications, he's been training harder than ever with renewed vigor and motivation to seize what's been alluding him for the past five years.

Heavyweight is another division filled to the brim with exceptional fighters, and Keenan will need to win three hard matches to obtain his position in the final. His first match of the day will likely be Felipe Trovo of Gracie Barra. He'll then face either Dimitrius Souza from Alliance or Pedro Elias from NS Brotherhood. 

The semi-final will almost certainly be against Kaynan Duarte  – a hotly anticipated matchup of former teammates.   

Should Keenan overcome the hurdle that is the limitlessly talented Duarte, he'll have one of several monsters waiting for him: Leandro Lo, Patrick Gaudio, Jackson Sousa, Vinicius Ferreira or Tim Spriggs.  

Leandro scores two at the 2018 Pan Championships 

Keenan would probably prefer anyone from that list besides Leandro Lo, and given Lo's somewhat spotty record this last year, he could very well avoid him this time around– only time will tell how this goes down. 

Venla Luukkonen – Super-Heavy (Finland)

Venla Luukkonen is a two-time black belt World Champion (2014, 2018) from Espoo, Finland. Luukkonen faces a batch of new competition this year as Nina Moura, Jessica Flowers, and Claudia Do Val have all moved up in weight. 

Venla needs just one win to earn her bid in the final where she'll likely meet Jessica Flowers or Claudia Do Val.