Skip to content
The BJJ Story
Search
Back to people
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

Hugo Cabrera

Hugo Cabrera and his brother Jaime taught a La Paz generation whose advanced students continued the academy after them.

Biography

Hugo Cabrera taught Brazilian jiu-jitsu in La Paz alongside his brother Jaime. One of their students, writer Jorge Luna Ortuño, remembered learning through both the knowledge they shared in class and the PRIDE fight videos they lent him. In his April 2012 recollection, he identified the brothers as his teachers and described their sharing of knowledge with his classmates as well as himself. The academy’s later history places the brothers at its beginning. In a January 2021 interview with BJJ Globetrotters, Oscar Negron credited Hugo and Jaime with founding the school that became Octagon La Paz. He described them as Bolivia’s first BJJ black belts. Negron’s account also explains how their students continued the academy after the founders stopped training. The Hermanos Cabrera team also competed beyond La Paz. A contemporary report in Opinión records its participation in the 2008 Copa Vencer Juntos Open in Cochabamba. The newspaper’s team standings placed Hermanos Cabrera fourth, with one gold medal, three silvers and one bronze. When the brothers stopped training, Negron recalled, their most advanced students took responsibility for the classes. Antonio Cicconi began supporting that successor group in 2012. The school had occupied the premises described in the 2021 interview since January 2017. By 2021, Negron described an academy of roughly 50 people, ranging from hobbyists to competitors. Continuing the programme meant finding room for those different ambitions. He explained that a single combined class had proved unsuited to everyone’s goals, so the successor school separated beginners, ranked students, juveniles and children into different classes.

Sources for this profile

  • Oscar Negron, entire OctagonLaPaz interview, BJJGlobetrotters9January2021(opens in a new tab)

    • Oscar Negron credits Hugo and Jaime Cabrera with founding the academy that became OctagonLaPaz.

      Where in the source: Whole9January2021academy-originanswer with bothfoundersnamed.

      Accessed:

    • Negron describes the two founders as Bolivia’s first BJJblack belts.

      Where in the source: Entire academy-origin answer.

      Accessed:

    • Negron says the founders eventually stopped training and their most advanced students took over the classes.

      Where in the source: Complete academy-originanswer, middle.

      Accessed:

    • He identifies AntonioCicconi as supporting the successor group from2012.

      Where in the source: Whole same answer through laterGracieBarraambition.

      Accessed:

    • ByJanuary2021 the successor academy had been in its then premises sinceJanuary2017.

      Where in the source: Whole whenopenedanswer and publicationdate.

      Accessed:

    • Negron described an academy of roughly50 people with different goals, from hobbyists to competitors.

      Where in the source: Full participantcountanswer and wholepeople-traininganswer.

      Accessed:

    • He explained that the successor school separated beginners, ranked students, juveniles and children after finding one combined class unsuited to their different goals.

      Where in the source: Entire challengesanswer firstparagraph; allremainingaltitudeanswersreadbutnotused.

      Accessed:

  • Jorge Luna Ortuño, personal recollection in PRIDEFCy elGracieJiuJitsu,11April2012(opens in a new tab)

    • Writer Jorge Luna Ortuño identifies Jaime andHugo as brothers and his BJJteachers.

      Where in the source: Complete personal reminiscence paragraph beginning Otrocapítulofascinante, in original11April2012essay.

      Accessed:

    • He recalls borrowing PRIDEfight videos from the two teachers and learning from the knowledge they shared with him and his classmates.

      Where in the source: Whole same first-person paragraph through transitionbacktoreadingMMAhistory.

      Accessed:

  • Opinión, original CopaVencerJuntos2008 report and entire teamtable,21September2008(opens in a new tab)

    • The HermanosCabrera team fromLaPaz competed in the2008CopaVencerJuntosOpen inCochabamba.

      Where in the source: Entire original21September2008mainreport, completeparticipatingclublist.

      Accessed:

    • The published team table placed HermanosCabrera fourth with onegold, threesilvers and onebronze.

      Where in the source: Whole9row MEDALLERO table with POS/EQUIPO/ORO/PLATA/BRONCE headers.

      Accessed:

Lineage

No teaching connections are shown on this page.

Open lineage