The brown belts took center stage at the IBJJF World Championships today, with champions like Sarah Galvao, Eduardo Alves, Mateo Cardona, and Helena Crevar all putting on a show in the Pyramid. For all the fans who want an update on all the biggest stories from the opening brackets, we got you covered. All of the action will kick off again Saturday at 9:30am pacific when the black belts finally begin their divisions and open class runs.

Sarah Galvao Wins Worlds, Gets Promoted

After a wild 2025 run at brown belt, Sarah Galvao accomplished what seemed like her destiny when she won the brown belt light division at Worlds and received her black belt from her parents Andre and Angelica. It was a rollercoaster day with Sarah submitting her first two opponents to make the finals where her familiar foe Giovanna kept her to a decision that she won. After another gold medal and her place at the tournament as a champion secured, Sarah did enter the open with her eyes on double gold - but it wasn't meant to be. In her first open class match, medium-heavy champion Aghata Fernandes was able to pull off a beautiful kneebar early in the match to finish Sarah's run. Right after, in the bullpen, Sarah got her black belt with her Dream Team crew there to cheer her on.

Overall, it was an incredible run for Sarah through colored belt. She won world gold at every level and did so with a very high submission rate. Her work in the open classes all season speak for themselves and she was undefeated as an adult heading into the year (and only took losses in the open class). She's entering the same division as BSM, Janaina, and Luiza now - deep waters.

To her credit, Aghata also had a great day even beyond the submission win over Sarah. She won medium-heavy, including submitting her finals opponent, and made the open class finals where she lost to Raniele Alencar. Alencar takes silver-gold here, avenging a divisional loss to Luane Carvalho on the way, and the new Atos member is also a new Atos black belt - she was promoted at the end of the day along with Sarah, Lillian Marchand, and Leticia Teixeira.

Eduardo Alves Is Alliance's Next Black Belt Threat

Eduardo Alves is the double gold champion for the adult brown belt men and the Alliance rising star was on fire all day long with brutal submission wins in both the division and open class setting a tone of dominance. Eduardo has been on fire in 2025 but has ended up closing out a lot of his finals - including here in the weight when his Alliance stablemate Danilo Wryck punched his ticket too. In the open class though he faced Unity's Omar Nada in the finals and used serious horsepower to get the submission off a straight ankle lock. He won seven matches today with a ton of submission finishes and if his brown belt career was any indication, he's going to be a problem at black belt for these guys. 

Helena Wins Epic Finals For Gold

The day's most anticipated weight class match was brown belt middle, where Atos's Lillian Marchand met Kingsway star Helena Crevar faced off in a final worthy of the hype. It was a barnburner of a match that saw Marchand score a sweep into a deep armbar only seconds in - but Crevar managed to escape and continue. With Lillian up by multiple advantages, Helena navigated her way to the pass with less than thirty seconds left. It was a crazy match full of elite technique - I can only hope we continue to see both of these women in the black belt gi divisions soon. Because Helena won brown belt Worlds, she is eligible for that promotion at any time her team sees appropriate. She chose not to enter the open class after her division.

Mateo Cardona Thrashes His Way To Gold

Maybe the most dominant performance of the day was AOJ's Mateo Cardona, who had nearly all submissions (and quick ones) as he raced his way to gold at lightweight brown belt. What really impressed me wasn't just that he was submitting everyone but he showed a very diverse game with fight-ending sequences from his guard, from the back, and more. His run in the finals culimated in a quick triangle submission and a promotion to black belt by Gui Mendes for the young Cardona. He's poised to enter the lightweight division and shake things up, tho many do have a period of adjustment. Still, I don't think it will take long for him to find his footing and begin serious contention.

Team Scores

The top five in each category so far are;

Men's Team Race

1. DreamArt - 60
2. Alliance - 54
3. AOJ - 36
4. Cicero Costha & CheckMat - 22

Women's Team Race

1. Atos - 67
2. Fratres BJJ - 47
3. Alliance - 33
4. Marcio Andre Jiu-Jitsu - 32
5. CheckMat - 30

What To Expect Tomorrow

The black belts finally begin at Worlds 2025, with open classes in the morning and divisions to follow. You can find our full preview here. The open classes begin at 9:30 pacific time, exclusively on FloGrappling.

IBJJF Worlds 2025 Schedule 

Saturday, May 31

• Adult / Male / PURPLE / Feather – 2:38 PM ET
• Adult / Male / PURPLE / Light – 4:26 PM ET
• Adult / Male / PURPLE / Middle – 6:23 PM ET
• Adult / Male / PURPLE / Medium Heavy – 12:30 PM ET
• Adult / Male / PURPLE / Heavy – 12:30 PM ET
• Adult / Male / PURPLE / Super Heavy – 2:56 PM ET
• Adult / Male / PURPLE / Ultra Heavy – 3:41 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Rooster – 2:49 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Light Feather – 3:13 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Feather – 3:49 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Light – 4:37 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Middle – 6:01 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Medium Heavy – 7:01 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Heavy – 8:13 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Super Heavy – 8:38 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Ultra Heavy – 8:25 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Rooster – 2:49 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Light Feather – 3:25 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Feather – 4:49 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Light – 5:49 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Middle – 5:02 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Medium Heavy – 7:13 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Heavy – 7:02 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Super Heavy – 7:02 PM ET

Sunday, June

• Adult / Male / BLACK / Rooster – 12:30 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Light Feather – 12:42 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Feather – 12:54 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Light – 1:06 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Middle – 1:18 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Medium Heavy – 1:30 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Heavy – 1:42 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Super Heavy – 1:54 PM ET
• Adult / Male / BLACK / Ultra Heavy – 2:06 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Rooster – 2:18 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Light Feather – 2:30 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Feather – 2:42 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Light – 2:54 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Middle – 3:06 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Medium Heavy – 3:18 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Heavy – 3:30 PM ET
• Adult / Female / BLACK / Super Heavy – 3:42 PM ET

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