The brackets just got released for the IBJJF American Nationals (July 6-8) and it features a mix of familiar faces, freshly promoted black belts, and one particularly renowned technical innovator in the form of Keenan Cornelius. 

The worm guard creator injured his knee in Japan in April, when he dislocated his kneecap during a match. He fought in a low-key superfight in Singapore since, but this is the first time we've seen Cornelius enter a tournament but judging from his recent social media shenanigans he's been prepping hard. 

He and Atos teammates Lucas "Hulk" and Michael Perez were enjoying the good life in a mansion in Beverly Hills training with former opponent Gordon Ryan among others. When they weren't training, they were hanging out with hot chicks, driving supercars and having cookouts next to a pool. It's a hard life when you're being taken care of by a wealthy benefactor. 

Black belt brackets

As said, the black belt divisions aren't super stacked (post-Worlds comedown / vacation / off-season still in effect for many) but feature an intriguing mix of names. 

Lightweight
The lightweight division is probably the most competitive, and the bracket is loaded in a  way that's going to deliver some pretty good matches whatever happens. 



On side you've got the likes of John Combs and Jake Mackenzie, with tough opening rounds. Marcio Andre gets a bye so starts one step closer to the final. On the side side there's a nice clash of styles in Johnny Tama vs Kevin Mahecha, with the winner facing Renato Canuto (who is based in Las Vegas and has a home turf advantage). Gracie Barra veteran Rodrigo Freitas also sits on that side of the brackets. It's likely we'll see Andre vs Freitas in the final, but it's not guaranteed and anything could happen. 

Middleweight
The middleweight division features the black belt debut of Dante Leon, one of the best-known brown belt competitors of the last couple of years and a recent silver medalist at Worlds. Two black belt bronze medalists are also in the division, with Yan Lucas on one issue and Jaime Canuto on the other. Nathan Mendelsohn is always one to watch, as is the relatively unknown but capable Ross Keeping, a British transplant to Sin City who impressed us at Abu Dhabi World Pro this year. 



Heavyweight
The heavyweight division is where you'll find Keenan, along with other top American black belts such as Josh Hinger (moving up from his normal weight category) and Tanner Rice, who ranked #7 in our list of most successful Americans of 2017 to date. 




Click here for all brackets

American Nationals Black Belt Entrants

BLACK / Adult / Male / Rooster
Ronald Stephen Henderson Jr.	CheckMat
Chad Daniel Lundy	Cleber Jiu Jitsu
Nobuhiro Sawada	Tri-Force Jiu-Jitsu Academy
BLACK / Adult / Male / Light-Feather
Fabbio Passos de Alencar	Alliance
Lucas dos Santos Pinheiro	AMBJJ - Alex Martins Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Takahito Yoshioka	Atos Jiu-Jitsu
Rene Eduardo Lopez	Brasa Caio Terra
Henry Iribe	Gracie Humaita South Bay
Luis Felipe Ninja de Moraes Pinto	Leonardo Peçanha Association
Edmund Li	Nova União Hawai
BLACK / Adult / Male / Feather
Jason Alexander Gagnon	Alliance
Nicollas Welker Amorim Araujo	Alliance
Orlando Machado da Silva Junior	Alliance Jiu-Jitsu
Jonathan Van Buren	Ares BJJ
Osvaldo Augusto Honorio Moizinho	Ares BJJ
Kim Terra	Caio Terra Association
Thiago Augusto Araujo Macedo	Rodrigo Pinheiro BJJ
Felipe Hugo de Souza Simplicio	Soul Fighters BJJ Connecticut
Silvio Duran de Barros Saraiva	Vitor Shaolin BJJ
BLACK / Adult / Male / Light
Johnny Joachin Tama Apolinario	Alliance
Kevin Javier Mahecha	American Top Team
Breno Henrique Abreu Bittencourt	Ares BJJ Brasil
Kauan Argimon Barboza	Carlson Gracie Team
John Taylor Combs	Easton BJJ
Jacob Williams Mackenzie	GF Team
Blake Michael Nolan	Impact Jiu Jitsu
Issa Able	Nava BJJ
Marcio Andre Costa Barbosa Junior	Nova União
Rodrigo Lamounier de Freitas	Rodrigo Freitas Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Scott Richard Thometz	SBG International (SBGI)
Renato Forasieppi Alves Canuto	Zenith BJJ
Victor de Matos	Zenith BJJ
BLACK / Adult / Male / Middle
Piter Frank Almeida Silva	Alliance
Nathan Albrecht Mendelsohn	Coalition 95
Christian N Broadnax	GD Jiu-Jitsu Association
Dante Leon	GF Team
Jaime Soares Canuto	GF Team
Ross Daniel Keeping	Gracie Humaita Las Vegas
Rennick Keolani Kama Jr.	LEAD BJJ
Yan Lucas Cordeiro Paiva	Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu
Marcos Alexandre Campos de Almeida	Rodrigo Pinheiro BJJ
Shawn D. S. Cox	Yemaso Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
BLACK / Adult / Male / Medium-Heavy
Tarsis Carvalho Humphreys	Alliance
Lucas Daniel Silva Barbosa	Atos Jiu-Jitsu
Valdir Araujo de Lima Júnior	Fight Sports BJJ
Manuel Ribamar V. de Oliveira Filho	Ns Brotherhood
Cleves Filip Goiano de Matos	Roll Jiu-Jitsu Academy
Igor Matosinho de Paiva	Soul Fighters BJJ Tijuca
Diego Dias Ramalho	ZR Team California
BLACK / Adult / Male / Heavy
Charles Kilyan Mcguire	American Top Team
Keenan Kai-James Cornelius	Atos Jiu-Jitsu
Joshua Roy Hinger	Atos JJ International
Arnaldo Maidana de Oliveira	CheckMat
Daniel Hampton	GD Jiu-Jitsu Association
Felipe Larry Matias Oliveira	Nova União
Wellington Modena Peroto	One Jiu-Jitsu USA
Tanner Wade Rice	Soul Fighters BJJ Connecticut
Nicholas Lawrence Haas	Zenith BJJ
BLACK / Adult / Male / Super-Heavy
Dany Guy Steve Gerard	Atos JJ International
Gabriel Procópio da Fonseca	BTT
Christopher Gene Engle	Cascao Jiu-Jitsu
BLACK / Adult / Male / Ultra-Heavy
Felipe Cabral Pinheiro Abad	Ares BJJ
Joseph Moku Kahawai Jr.	Beyond Jiu-Jitsu
Gabriel Lyrio Lucas	CheckMat
Gustavo Dias Elias	Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu
BLACK / Adult / Female / Light-Feather
Tassia Vanessa Ferreira	Gracie Barra
BLACK / Adult / Female / Feather
Ana Talita de Oliveira Alencar	Alliance
Tammi Alana Musumeci	Brasa Caio Terra
Patrícia Maria N. Fontes dos Santos	CheckMat
Ana Carolina Schmitt	Gracie Humaita
Emilie Maxine M. H. Thylin	Gracie Humaita
BLACK / Adult / Female / Light
Danielle Renee Alvarez	Gracie Humaita
Jena Rae Bishop	Gracie Humaita
BLACK / Adult / Female / Middle
Evelyne Déry	Brazilian Top Team
Beatriz de Oliveira Mesquita	Gracie Humaita
Nivia de Souza Moura	Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu
BLACK / Adult / Female / Super-Heavy
Charlene Marie Coats	Coalition 95
Hillary VanOrnum	Impact Jiu Jitsu