The 2015 World No-Gi Ji-Jitsu championship reached full capacity at the very end of the registration period.

The deadline was Oct. 29, and 1,600 athletes confirmed presence at the Long Beach pyramid, next weekend.

Some big names are in, which increases the chances of big thrills at this year’s Worlds No-Gi.

Surprisingly, some names we would expect to be in the list, are not, like Yuri Simões, Keenan Cornelius, Lucas Leite, AJ Agazarm.

In the black belt division, many 2014 champions will be back to defend their titles.

Check below the main names registered in each weight class.

Roosterweight 

CAIO TERRA

Caio Terra will be after his eighth gold medal overall and his fourth in the roosterweight division. If last year he had to fight only once, this year he’ll have to face a full bracket with standouts like Leandro Escobar, Felipe Costa and Yusuke Honma.

Light-featherweight

JOÃO MIYAO

João Miyao is another 2014 champion back to defend his title. Samir Chantre, Rafael Freitas, Thomas Lisboa João Pedro Somália will be some of the toughest obstacles on the way of the champion.

Featherweight

GIANNI GRIPPO

Last year’s champion, Samir Chantre, registered in the light-featherweight, but can still change divisions on check day (11/03). Anyway, Gianni Grippo, Vitor Paschoal, Kim Terra, Osvaldo Moizinho and Paulo Miyao are the usual suspects in the division. Veteran Barret Yoshida and always tough Augusto Tanquinho are also in the mix and have all the tools to make it to the top.

Lightweight 

GARRY TONON

AJ Agazarm, champion in 2014, is not on the list, but Michael Langhi, Garry Tonon, Rodrigo Freitas, Mansher Khera, Francisco Iturralde, among others, are confirmed. It’s another division set to thrill the crowd.

Middleweight

MARCELO MAFRA

Reigning champion Marcelo Mafra is back to defend his crown. It’s not going to be a easy task, as he has the company of Otavio Sousa, DJ Jackson, Jonathan Satava, Josh Hinger among other tough guys.

Medium-heavy

Matheus Diniz

Keenan Cornelius, winner in 2014, is not on the list. It’s safe to say the division is wide open, and Matheus Diniz, Thiago Sá, Arnaldo Maidana, Inacio Neto, among others, will go at it for the gold medal.

Heavyweight 

TIM SPRIGGS

Not very populated, the division will be short but intense. Lucas Leite, the 2014 champion, is not on the list. Felipe Pena, Tim Spriggs, Roberto Torralbas and Felipe Bueno are guarantees of great action.

Super-heavy

JOÃO ASSIS

João Assis is back to defend his 2014 title. He’ll have to outgrapple tough guys like Lucas Rocha, James Puopolo Guybson Sá, Roberto Camargo and others.

Ultra-heavy

GABRIEL LUCAS

Yuri Simões, ultra-heavy and open class champion in 2014, is not on the list due to neck injury sustained at the 2015 ADCC. Roberto Cyborg, Gabriel Lucas, Bruno Bastos and newcomers to the black belt division Jared Dopp and Mahamed Aly will shake the ground of the pyramid looking for the gold medal.

Female 

MACKENZIE DERN

With 16 athletes registered, the female black belt division features some great duels. Tammi Musumeci and Mackenzie Dern in the featherweight division. Angelica Galvão and Amanda Loewen in the middleweight. The open class should gather the most important names for big thrills.

Click here for more info on the 2015 Worlds No-Gi.

This is your last chance to become a Jiu-Jitsu world champion this year.

The registration deadline for the 2015 World No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu championship is today, Oct. 29, 11:59PM (PT).

The event is scheduled November 7-8, at the Long Beach Pyramid.

Click here for more info and to register now.

Watch an awesome video with the highlights of the black belt division in 2014.

The 2015 World No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu championship is getting closer by the day.

Scheduled November 7-8, at the Long Beach Pyramid, the event is sure to be one of the highlights of the calendar.

As you probably already know, no-gi Jiu-Jitsu is quite different from regular gi action.

No grips means a lot of adaptations to the way you move on the mat.

So, we asked six world champions what would be that one quality one needs to have to be successful without the good old kimono.

JT Torres, Augusto Tanquinho, Yuri Simões, Caio Terra, Michelle Nicolini and Rafael Lovato Jr. shared their approach to the subject.

Before you read what they had to say, don’t forget to register for the 2015 Worlds No-Gi.

The deadline is Oct. 29. Click here to register now.

JT Torres – 2013 lightweight black belt champion

“It would have to be wrestling. In my opinion, you need to have takedowns involved with your no-gI game because takedowns will allow you to control the fight and the pace of the fight. Wrestling will also teach a fighter a whole different method of applying pressure. A fighter cannot pull guard without making contact so there is always a golden opportunity for a takedown and two points. As we’ve seen in the past, it’s usually the fighter on top who wins.”

Augusto Tanquinho – 2012 lightweight champion

“I believe you need to be versatile. In no-gi Jiu-Jitsu, a good wrestling technique makes the difference many times, but if you only have wrestling, it is possible that you will be defeated by someone with a really good guard game. So, I try to have a pretty complete game and also I try to follow my strategy, but I am also not afraid of changing it. In 2012, I decided to pull guard after eight minutes and I was able to win with two advantages playing from the bottom. In my opinion, being versatile saved me. If I had remained standing, I would have lost that match.”

Yuri Simões – 2014 ultra-heavy and open class champion

“Patience. Once you don’t have the gi to hold on, the match is much looser and after just a few moments, the sweat makes things much more slippery. So, it’s easier to escape from positions you wouldn’t escape in a gi match. That’s why you need to be patient and make the right grips on the right time. You need patience to recover lost positions and event to restart the whole match when your opponent slipped out of a submission and is now on top.”

Caio Terra – 4X light-featherweight champion, 3X roosterweight champion

“Technique! Always technique. With or without the gi, technique is the most important quality for an athlete to reach success. You need to be active and studying the art. You need to go to championships as a competitor or even as a spectator.”

Michelle Nicolini – 5X world no-gi champion

“I would choose agility. As the matches are much more slippery, the skill level is leveled between athletes, as well as the power factor. An agile athlete who is able to impose his rhythm to the match will always be steps ahead of the opponent, forcing the adversary to be on the defensive mode. Those fight on the offense with a lot of agility will always put on great matches for the crowd.”

Rafael Lovato Jr. – 3x world champion

“No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu is a completely different art. Of course you have to understand how to apply your game without being able to grip the gi, but as far as qualities go I think that precision is very important. No-Gi is much faster and it is very easy to scramble out of things and be slippery. A great No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu artist understands how important it is to capitalize on a good moment and they will be precise with their attack and not lose the chance. You might not ever have that opportunity again.”

Yuri Simões at the 2014 Worlds No-Gi

You saw what happened with the Worlds Masters, so don’t let it happen again with the Worlds No-Gi.

The IBJJF has already opened the registration period for the event scheduled November 7-8, at the Long Beach Pyramid.

As usual, the early bird gets the better price, so if you register until Sept. 3 you will pay $97.

After that date and until the final deadline of October 29th, the price goes up to $120.

Created in 2007, the Worlds No-Gi has quickly become a crowd favorite among grapplers from all around the world.

Jeff Monson, Antonio Braga Neto, Caio Terra, Rubens Cobrinha, Josh Barnett and many others are among the famous names that competed and conquered at the Worlds No-Gi.

Don’t miss out on being part of that rich history and register now.

Click here for more info and to register.

Gilbert Durinho tries to pass Lo’s guard. Photo: Ivan Trindade/GRACIEMAG

Gilbert “Durinho” Burns was one of the most talked-about black-belts at the 2013 Worlds No-Gi, which took place on November 2-3, in Long Beach. Vitor Belfort’s ground coach won the middleweight category by getting past aces Leandro Lo and Vitor Oliveira, the latter in the final, after a nice-looking suplex. Proof that his MMA and wrestling training is paying off.

Having just collected his gold medal, Gilbert boarded a plane to Goiânia to assist in Vitor Belfort’s drubbing of Dan Henderson.

In an exclusive chat with GRACIEMAG, Durinho analyzed his triumph in Californian soil, told of how he brought together the spin and pressure to defeat Leandro Lo, and gave us some more BJJ lessons. Check it out and learn from the champ:

GRACIEMAG: What was the strongest aspect of your campaign at the No-Gi Worlds?

GILBERT DURINHO: First I’m thrilled with my performance. I love what I do and I train because I like to, so I went there to have fun. There was nothing much different about it. There is evolution, but the essence remains the same. It was a little bit of everything: craftiness, aggressiveness, wrestling and speed as always. I continue to practice a lot with the gi off and mainly wrestling. In MMA we have to be more aggressive and we cannot afford to let positions slip. If you get swept or taken down in MMA the damage isn’t just two points; it can cost a lot more!

You and Lo clashed in the middleweight semifinal. Was it tough to thwart his sweeps?

I went in focused and every time I fight I fight to win. I knew I was gonna face Leandro and I believe in my game a lot, especially at no-gi. He is a very tough guy, but I went in confident, imposed my kinetic rhythm coupled with pressure and wound up nullifying his game. I’ve always trained with good guard players at Atos, such as Bruno Frazatto, Guto Campos, Rafael Mendes and others. I understand we all have a B side, a weaker side, and that’s what I focused on. I would only pass on his “bad” side and I never stopped moving and pressuring. The main thing was to fight with intelligence, nullifying grips and being annoying the whole time.

And in the final against GFTeam’s Vitor Oliveira there was that nice takedown. What was the detail that led to that successful move?

I knew Vitor beforehand, a guy in an excellent phase, but I knew my wrestling was gonna make a difference, and it did. I tried to get a submission, but he defended properly against the guillotine. So I insisted on the takedown and on the pressure plus movement. The detail there is to confuse the guy, to go to a position having an eye on the variation. I went up on the single-leg already aiming for the back, you know? And then I made it count. I think my steam and my speed made a difference for this title.

What lesson did you learn after conquering this second no-gi world championship?

That training has to be tough, but that more important than training are self-confidence and the will to win. You need to define how bad you want to win, whether you wanna pay the price. When the time comes it’s more of a mental game than a physical one; it’s about determination. I learned that what matters is not how physically strong you are, but rather your mind. Determination is the secret.

Here are the results of the five super fights of day 1 at the 2013 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo.

Phillipe Nover vs Efrain Escudero tied after 20 minutes of no-gi match.

João Miyao defeated Eduardo Telles 2-0 on advantages on their super fight.

Keenan Cornelius caught Lucas Leite’s arm within the last two minutes of their super fight.

Rafael Lovato Jr and Murilo Santana tied after a 20-minute sub-only no-gi match.

Caio Terra wrapped up day 1 with a complicated shoulder lock to win his super fight against Nam Phan.

“I wanna thank him for agreeing to fight under my rules, the IBJJF rules”, said Caio after the match.

The 2013 WJJE returns tomorrow at 10 AM (PST).

Here’s a exclusive photo gallery of Day 1.

For more info, go to worldjiujitsuexpo.com

Murilo Santana

Murilo Santana will be the opponent to Rafael Lovato Jr in another fight of the 2013 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo.

The two warriors recently competed in the Worlds No-Gi.

Murilo conquered the male adult black belt division and Lovato won the ultra-heavy division.

The fight will be a 20-minute match, submission only.

For the complete list of events at the 2013 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo, click here.

The rooster weight conquered his sixth title in seven installments of the Worlds No-Gi since 2007.

He’s by far the record holder in number of titles.

See how he did it and watch it in full screen.

WATCH IN FULL SCREEN!