The IBJJF’s medium heavyweight division has always garnered some of the most fan friendly athletes. At 188-lbs, these competitors have the perfect blend of explosiveness and braun mixed with agility, technique and precision.

No surprise, then, that the 18-deep medium heavyweight division coming to the No-Gi Pan Championships this weekend will feature athletes with a broad spectrum of talents and styles, but each with the promise of thrilling matches no matter how the bracket shapes out (it should be announced soon).

To start with, Manuel Ribamar and Jaime Canuto are as polished as they come. Ribamar may have the best guard play in the division, and he used it effectively in 2019 to win a No-Gi Worlds title. Canuto, on the other hand, is a relentless passer and gritty top player, who has made it to the No-Gi Worlds finals twice, coming up with silver both times.

Ribamar celebrates No-Gi Worlds gold

Rodrigo Lopes is a newcomer by comparison, but he already has a No-Gi Worlds medal to his name. He fell in the semifinal from bronze in 2021, but not before reminding fans of his finishing abilities. “Tatu” caught two vicious leg locks, a staple of his aggressive game. 

Bruno Matias has not yet seen a podium at No-Gi Worlds, but he hit two submissions in his debut at the tournament in 2021 months after his No-Gi Pans debut where he found bronze. In his short black belt career, Matias has proven himself a finisher — in equal parts as a leg locker and a human backpack.

Now two years into his black belt career, Oliver Taza will look to collect his first IBJJF major title. He’s been let loose since the IBJJF sanctioned heel hooks for black belt competitors, but a misunderstanding of the rules left him victim to disqualification early in his No-Gi Pans foray in 2021. This season alone, Taza has struck gold at each of the six IBJJF no-gi opens he’s entered, evidence that the three-time ADCC veteran from New Wave Jiu-Jitsu has finally arrived.

The most decorated participant in this division has seldom entered no-gi competition in his seven-year black belt career. Three-time world champ Gabriel Arges is an ADCC veteran, but that brief affair in 2019 accounts for one of less than ten no-gi matches in his career. Still, Arges’ fast pace style and his affinity for kneebars from 50-50 makes him an obvious threat in this division; and he has the X-factor: Arges knows how to win when it counts.

Still, he’s only had five matches in any ruleset since 2020, and none in 2022. That makes him a dark horse in this division on his return to competition.

And this division has no shortage of dark horses.

There’s Stanley Rosa, the leglock specialist famed as the first ever competitor to score a legal heel hook in IBJJF competition. Or Austin Oranday, the first year black belt tactician with his own mean leg attacks. Hunter Colvin could be a threat; he proved it at American Nationals where he cinched four submissions in as many matches for gold. Brown belt No-Gi Pan champion Sebastian Rodriguez deserves particular attention hot off of the ADCC Open, where he closed out in the final with his teammate in a five win, four submission day.

Sean Yadimarco will make his IBJJF black belt No-Gi Pans debut following a sensational summer. He climbed to bronze at the ADCC Open, and has been a breakout star on the Finishers Sub Only scene throughout the year.

Matteo Martinez has been on the cusp of a breakout performance, tearing through submission-only competitions with his fluid style and dangerous leg locks. At No-Gi Pans, he’ll have an opportunity to find that breakout if he picks off one of the many A-listers in this division. 

Guthierry Barbosa may be the biggest wildcard among them. The Carlson Gracie black belt has used his gritty style to disrupt division after division in gi competition. But he’s seldom competed in no-gi throughout  his career. But with this roster of hard nosed competitors, his energy will be welcome at center mat.