25 competitors, but let’s be realistic. Medium-heavyweight is a four-way race between Felipe Pena, Rudson Mateus, Gustavo Batista and Lucas “Hulk” Barbosa. 

If there is any doubt the seeding says it all: Barbosa is ranked no.1, Batista no.2, Rudson is no.3 and Pena is no.4. And with good reason. Just look at their results. 

Barbosa is the 2018 medium-heavyweight World champion, closing out the final with his teammate Batista. They did the same at Pans this year, and both collected absolute gold medals with Batista winning the open weight at Euros and Hulk adding Pan absolute gold to his collection of medals. 

Rudson took gold in his weight class and silver in the absolute division at Brasileiros, one of the toughest tournaments to win in the world. 

And let’s not forget that Pena is the 2018 heavyweight champion, dropping down to medium-heavyweight for the first time since 2017. 

Take a look at the brackets and you’ll see they’re placed evenly in each of the four corners, meaning if they are to meet it would be in the semifinals. We’ll get into the paths in a minute, but there is a chance we could see a close out this year much like we did in 2018. 

No.4 seed: Felipe Pena

Very few people wouldn’t put Pena in the semifinal at the very least. A bye in his opener gives him either Diogo Araujo or Diego Gamonal in his first match, either of which he should handle although Araujo’s tricky guard game will def have Pena on his toes. 

The quarterfinal could be against Gabriel Almeida of Checkmat, who took silver at Euros to Rudson after beating Lucas Hulk in the opening round– a test for Pena but one he can handle. The smart money is on Pena meeting Barbosa in the semi. 

No.3 seed: Rudson Mateus

Two wins will put Rudson into the semifinal, probably against Batista. His first match could be against Mike Perez or Roberto Frias– it’s a flip of the coin to be honest, and neither will likely pose a problem for Rudson. The Alliance veteran Renato Cardoso will probably be his next opponent– Rudson beat him twice in 2018 on points both times. 

No.2 seed: Gustavo Batista

Batista’s first match will be the super tough Murilo Santana, not exactly the kind of match you want as your warm up. They faced off in the opening round at Worlds last year, with Batista winning 2-0 on points. 

Next up is probably Matheus Spirandelli, a former training partner when both were at NS Brotherhood. Spirandelli now reps Alliance of course, ad they’ve never competed against each other. Still Batista’s track record should see him make it into the semi vs Rudson. 

No.1 seed: Lucas Barbosa

He may be the no.1 seed but he’s not got an easy path to the final. First he’ll meet the low-ranked Nathan dos Santos or Gilvan Gomes da Costa, but it gets tricky here on out. Three possibilities await: either Matheus Diniz, Devhonte Johnson, or 2010 World champion Tarsis Humphreys– all challenging opponents in their own right. 

Barbosa has only once faced Pena at black belt– a no-gi match in 2017 which he lost by submission. This was only three months after Pena had won the ADCC absolute division, and Barbosa has had the more success since then in the gi. But there are no free rides to the final and Hulk will need every ounce of his strength to get into the final. 

Prediction: Barbosa edges out Pena in a close match, Batista does the same against Rudson Mateus, they close out in the final with Batista getting gold as Hulk got it last year. 

The 2019 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championship will take place in Long Beach, California, and matches start every day at around 9:00 am local time.