Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo Marques, or simply Victor Hugo (height – 195cm /6’4, weight – 115 kg / 255 lbs), is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Saulo and Alexandre Ribeiro (Xande) of the Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Association, who worked extensively with Ricardo Costa (DBK). Hugo became widely recognized as one of the biggest prospects in the sport while competing in the lower belt divisions of grappling, where he conquered numerous titles in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) circuit, including the Grand Slam (European Open, Brazilian National, Pan American, and World Championship) in both his weight class and the absolute division (2019).

Victor Hugo Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Victor Hugo Costa Marques

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: C. Gracie > H. Gracie > Royler Gracie > Saulo Ribeiro (> Alexandre Ribeiro) > Victor Hugo

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship (2021 / 2022)
• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2019*)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2021)
• 1st Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals (2023**)
• 1st Place IBJJF Grand Prix (2021)
• 1st Place 3CG Kumite 3 Challenge (2020)
• 1st Place 3CG Kumite 6 Challenge (2020)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, MSK (2019)
• 1st Place ACBJJ World Championship (2019)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2021 / 2022)
• 3rd Place AJP Grand Slam, LDN (2019)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship (2016** / 2017 purple, 2018 / 2019** brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship NoGi (2016 purple, 2018 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open (2017 purple, 2018 / 2019** brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pans Championship (2017 purple, 2018 / 2019** brown)
• 1st Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals (2015 blue, 2016 purple, 2019** brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship (2017* purple / 2018* brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship NoGi (2018* brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF European Open (2017* purple, 2018* brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Pans Championship (2017* purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pans Championship (2018* brown)

* Absolute
** Weight and absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Well Rounded

Weight Division: Pesadíssimo (over 100,50 kg / 222.0 lbs)

Team/Association: Six Blades

Victor Hugo Biography

Victor Hugo was born on May 01, 1997, in Fortaleza, the capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará.

As a child Hugo played a number of sports, from football (soccer) to basketball, swimming, judo and more, but never connected with any of those, feeling he lacked the athleticism to push those forward.  Eventually, during his early teens, Hugo dropped his sporting life altogether.

On July 2011, while enjoying a vacation period, Victor’s father noticed a new jiu-jitsu gym had opened where Hugo’s old judo training center had been located. Victor’s dad soon joined the class and influenced Victor to tag along, with the two signing on to the Day Bu Kan Academy (DBK), under the instruction of coach Ricardo Costa.

Although Victor did not enjoy jiu-jitsu at the start, sharing the mats with his father, who always pressed Hugo to keep coming to class, helped him remain in the sport until training became more enjoyable. In an interview given to BJJ Heroes on June 2019, Hugo said about his early, grappling days:

“What made me fall in love with jiu-jitsu was that it didn’t require any natural skills or athleticism. I saw that, by coming to class and putting in the time, I was evolving, a little bit at a time“.

In 2016, after two Brazilian National titles, purple belt Victor Hugo decided to travel to the United States of America for the first time, to compete in the IBJJF World Championship. The event was an all-around success with Victor winning titles in the adult, purple belt, weight, and absolute divisions. While there, Hugo was introduced to the Ribeiro Brothers, Alexandre and Saulo Ribeiro by a mutual friend, Gustavo Dias.

Through Gustavo, Victor Hugo was offered a full scholarship at the University of Jiu-Jitsu, a project led by the Ribeiro Bros, where martial arts are taught under the solid foundations of the Bushido way of life. Victor was studying nutrition at the time but decided to follow his heart, joining the Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu team in September 2016, as a professional athlete.

Under the Ribeiro banner, Victor Hugo became one of the top up-and-comers in the sport, and after 6 IBJJF World titles (4 Gi and 2 No-Gi) in the lower belt divisions, Victor was awarded his black belt from the hands of Saulo and Alexandre Ribeiro, on June 2019.