Skip to content
The BJJ Story
Two training partners meeting on the mat.Drawn in cream, forest green, and muted terracotta. People and objects are symbolic illustrations.
Portrait unavailable. General BJJ illustration; not a likeness of this person.Illustration: The BJJ Story

Álvaro Ribeiro

Álvaro Ribeiro teaches in Oslo and has shared a loop-choke course that follows one attack through changing positions.

Biography

Álvaro Ribeiro is a jiu-jitsu instructor in Oslo and a black belt under Eduardo Rios. His work connects competition for Frontline Academy with teaching at Gym Ila, technical workshops and the BJJ program at Norsk Judo og Jiu-jitsu Klubb (NJJK). The club lists him as a second-degree black belt. Competition in gi and no-gi Ribeiro was competing both with the gi, the training jacket used in BJJ, and without it by 2011. At that year's Stavanger Open, he represented Frontline Academy and took first place in two over-76 kg divisions: the combined purple-, brown- and black-belt BJJ category and advanced submission wrestling. The following year brought a European No-Gi bronze in the adult brown-belt medium-heavy division. At the 2015 Gothenburg International Open, he won the adult brown-belt open class, which brings together competitors from different weight divisions, and finished second at medium-heavy. By the 2017 Copenhagen Open, he was competing at black belt in the Master 1 age division. There he won medium-heavy in the gi and the open class in no-gi. He returned to the European Championship podium in 2019 with Master 1 black-belt medium-heavy bronze, again representing Frontline. Teaching while still a brown belt In his account of starting BJJ at Mudo-Ila in Oslo in 2013, Arne Kringstad recalls Ribeiro joining Renato Tavares to help with instruction while still a brown belt. Kringstad names Ribeiro as his promoter at Gym Ila on 19 November 2019, when Eduardo Rios was also present, and again when he received his black belt in Oslo on 10 June 2024. The loop choke in Bergen In 2019, Ribeiro visited Frontline Bergen to teach a workshop on the loop choke. The host's account introduced him as Gym Ila's head coach. The published curriculum begins with the choke's concepts and grip adjustment, then moves into rolling finishes. It also covers alternatives involving the opposite arm or collar and a response to an opponent stepping around. Later applications place the attack in different ground positions, including butterfly guard and closed guard, as well as a knee-slide situation. Fievel, writing in Frontline Bergen's account of the workshop, says the loop choke became a favorite for him and several other members afterward. A new program at NJJK NJJK announced Ribeiro as the instructor for its new BJJ program in October 2024. Classes were scheduled to begin on 22 October, welcoming all experience levels from age 14. The club's autumn 2026 timetable shows a broader age range: Ribeiro is listed for the 14-and-over group, children aged 10–14 and the Sunday open mat. His work also includes physical preparation. NJJK describes him as an AFPT-qualified personal trainer, working in that field since 2017, with experience in Muay Thai and MMA as well as BJJ and no-gi instruction. Its introduction highlights bodyweight exercise, mobility and strength for martial arts, and describes his teaching aim as making training both challenging and enjoyable. NJJK also identifies Ribeiro as an IBJJF-certified referee. That side of his work appeared in Bodø Jiu Jitsu's announcement for a weekend on 10–12 April 2026. The advertised program combined practical refereeing instruction with adult gi and no-gi seminars and a children's session. Participants who committed to officiating at NordNorsken #4 in May were offered the refereeing course free of charge, connecting the proposed instruction to the local tournament's need for officials.

Sources for this profile

Students1