Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro

Vitor Ribeiro got the nickname Shaolin as a teenager, when he would sit in the lotus position pretending to meditate like a monk and his training partners turned the joke into a name. He started jiu-jitsu in March 1993, at 14, and within weeks was training at André Pederneiras’s Nova União.

A black belt at 18, he reached the 1997 Worlds final at featherweight and lost to Royler Gracie on advantage. Two years later, now at lightweight, his run began: he beat Márcio Feitosa in the 1999 final and again in 2000, after getting past Leonardo Vieira in the semifinal. In 2001 he moved up to middleweight, submitted Bruno Fernandes in the semifinal and beat Fernando Tererê in the final to complete three straight titles.

In MMA he beat Tatsuya Kawajiri and took Joachim Hansen’s Shooto belt in 2003 with an arm-triangle choke in the second round. He was also Cage Rage champion and fought in Hero’s, Dream and Strikeforce, retiring in 2013 with 20 wins and 5 losses. At ADCC 2003 he took bronze after losing the semifinal to Marcelo Garcia.

Since 2015 he has worked as a UFC referee, debuting at the event headlined by Lyoto Machida and Luke Rockhold. He also referees UFC BJJ and runs an academy in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.