Biography
Kjetil Hope Lydvo (b. January 1995, Voss, Norway) is a Norwegian Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who has become one of the most consistent ultra-heavyweight grapplers on the IBJJF circuit. He came to BJJ at 17, after a childhood in boxing from age 10 and a period in uphill mountain running. He trained through the Frontline Academy system under Eduardo "Teta" Rios and was promoted to black belt by Rios on 6 January 2023.
As a coloured belt Lydvo was a four-time IBJJF European Champion (2017, 2019, 2020, 2022) and the 2022 IBJJF Brown Belt World Champion. He debuted at black belt with silver at the 2023 IBJJF European Championship.
His black-belt résumé has built quickly. Highlights include: gold (weight + open class) at the London Fall International Open 2023; bronze at the 2024 IBJJF European, Pan and World Championships; multiple gold-medal weekends at the Dublin, Rome and London Fall opens in 2024 and 2025 (a streak of three triple-gold weekends in 2025 alone); bronze at the 2025 CBJJ Brasileiro; and bronze at the 2026 IBJJF European Championship. He is known for a Faria-style deep half-guard sweep game and a lapel choke series from side control, and is sponsored as a featured athlete by Kingz Kimonos.
While trained in the Frontline / Teta Rios lineage, Lydvo's current IBJJF team affiliation is CheckMat International. He works as a personal trainer at Frontline Academy Hasle in Oslo.
Sources: BJJ Heroes; IBJJF athlete page; Kingz Kimonos; Nordic Grappling.