Mansher Khera in the final of the brown belt adult absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

Sunday, Nov. 3 was the day for brown belts to take the mats in the Long Beach Walter Pyramid for the World No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Some in the divisions were back from ADCC, some were new at their belt level and some were veterans hoping it was their time to shine.

The absolute division for the brown belt males held fifteen competitors in the bracket. Beginning as the black belt finals were coming to a close, there weren’t many around for the division final between lightweight Mansher Khera and ultra-heavyweight John Leslie Hansen. Mansher, also known as Munchi, pulled guard and swept with x-guard. He then passed multiple times and ended the match with a backtake making the score 18-0 for the new brown belt. Munchi has been training for four years and received his brown belt from Marcelo Garcia in July at GMA Marcelo Garcia Academy in New York City. It’s Marcelo’s style that helped him beat the bigger opponents. No points were scored on him in the four absolute matches he had and his weight division had four matches where he was only scored on by two points. After his win he attributed the huge double-gold victory to his teammates: “I train with some guys that push me to the limit every day. I think all my brown belt teammates can win worlds if I can,” he says. Looking towards the future, the black belt podium is his main goal; this was just a step up the ladder to get there.

Here are the winners of the divisions:

Male brown belt:

Rooster: Kristian R Woodmansee – Zenith BJJ
Light Feather: Brandon Woodly Walensky – San Diego Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy
Feather: Marcio Andre Costa Barbosa Jr. – Nova União
Light: Mansher Khera – Alliance
Middle: Arthur Dominick Sousa III – Team Popovitch
Medium-heavy: Matheus Oliveira Diniz – Alliance
Heavy: William Abreu – Fight Sports
Super-heavy: Evandro Nunes – Sampa BJJ Academy
Ultra-heavy: Bruno Santos M. Iglesias Lojo – Carlson Gracie Team
Open: Mansher Khera – Alliance

Female brown belt:

Light-feather: Melissa Biscardi Open Mat Mixed Martial Arts
Feather: Karen Deisy Antunes Souza – CheckMat
Middle: Leanna M Dittrich – Fight Sports
Medium-heavy: Alexis Du Fresne – American Top Team
Heavy: Maryanne Mullahy – Maromba Academia International
Open: Maryanne Mullahy – Maromba Academia International

To see the full results, click here.

To see the photo gallery, click here.