Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo capped the best run of his career at the 2023 Worlds with a kneebar on Erich Munis in the open class final. At the same tournament he had won ultra-heavyweight for the third year in a row. It was the fourth black belt gi world title for the Brazilian from Fortaleza.

Born in Fortaleza on May 1, 1997, he tried soccer, basketball, swimming and judo and quit sports in his early teens. He came back in July 2011, brought by his father, who was starting Jiu-Jitsu with the DBK team under Ricardo Costa. At first he did not like it.

After two Brazilian Nationals titles he went to the 2016 Worlds and was introduced to Saulo and Xande Ribeiro, who offered him a scholarship at their University of Jiu-Jitsu program. The Ribeiro brothers gave him his black belt in June 2019, after six world titles at the colored belts, four of them in the gi.

His black belt debut paid off right away: in December 2019 he won the No-Gi Worlds open class, with a kneebar on Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu in the final. In the gi he won ultra-heavyweight at Worlds in 2021, 2022 and 2023. In 2022 he came from behind in the last two minutes of the final against Gutemberg Pereira and won 9-2.

After 2023 he set the gi aside and competed only in no-gi. He chose the Craig Jones Invitational over ADCC in 2024, beat Nicky Rodriguez twice in superfights and, in February 2026, won the IBJJF Absolute No-Gi Grand Prix.

In September 2026, in Kraków, Poland, he won ADCC in the over 99 kg (218 lb) division, with four submissions in four matches, and then announced his retirement from the event.