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Vitor Ribeiro

“Shaolin”

Source: grapplearts.com

Nicknamed Shaolin for faking meditation at 14, he won black-belt world titles from 1999 to 2001, held Shooto and Cage Rage belts and now referees in the UFC.

Biography

Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1979, who won his division at the IBJJF World Championship in 1999, 2000 and 2001 for Nova União. He also held titles in Shooto and Cage Rage in mixed martial arts, and today divides his time between teaching jiu-jitsu in New Jersey and refereeing MMA. The nickname goes back to when he was 14. By his own account, he used to sit cross-legged with his eyes shut before class, pretending to meditate so that the other students would be impressed, until someone started calling him Shaolin. He started jiu-jitsu at that age after losing a street fight. At the time he was training only Muay Thai, and his opponent practiced Luta Livre, a Brazilian fighting style mixing grappling with strikes. About a month later a friend invited him to a jiu-jitsu school, and he began under André "Dedé" Pederneiras, whom he has called his only jiu-jitsu teacher. In Ribeiro's telling, Nova União itself came about when Pederneiras, who taught adults, joined forces with Wendell Alexander, who taught children, because a team needed both to win the team tournaments of the day in Brazil. After that, the team began winning a great deal in Rio. Two months into training, he entered a tournament, won two fights and lost the final to a yellow belt. As a student he went to school in the mornings and trained two or three times a day in the hours that were left. When Ribeiro was young, Pederneiras also had his students spar without the gi after class in a no-holds-barred style, with open-hand slaps, which Ribeiro said gave them some experience of striking and wrestling. At 15, as a blue belt, he reached the semifinal of the open class at the 1994 Brazilian Championship, where he faced Paulo Filho. Ribeiro recalled that Filho had a crowd behind him, while he had only Pederneiras, who told him to play guard and look for the sweep. At that championship he fought five times in his weight class and four times in the open class. Ribeiro said he had trained for three years when he won the world title at purple belt in 1996, in the featherweight division. His school then had as many as 80 people on the mat at once, he recalled, purple, brown and black belts side by side, who laced up running shoes after class to work on their conditioning. In the same year he won the brown-belt featherweight division at the Pan Championship. By the 1997 World Championship he was a black belt, and he reached the featherweight final, where Royler Gracie beat him. A year later he won the black-belt featherweight title at the Brazilian Championship. Competing at lightweight, he then won the black-belt division at the World Championship in 1999 and again in 2000, with Márcio Feitosa of Gracie Barra in second place both times; Feitosa finished ahead of him at the 1999 Brazilian Championship. In 2001 he won the world title once more, this time at middleweight, with Fernando Augusto of Alliance second. His professional MMA record, as Sherdog lists it, opens with a win in November 2001. For the new sport he trained Muay Thai with Luis Alves, boxing with Claudio Coelho and, for about two years, wrestling with Darryl Gholar. He had relied at first on double- and single-leg takedowns, and he said Gholar's Greco-Roman clinch work made his game more complete. The gi stayed in his preparation: for one Shooto bout he described a three-month camp that moved from mostly gi training to no-gi only in the final month. The gi, in his view, teaches detail, because an escape that works against the gi is easy once it comes off. In 2003 he entered ADCC, the submission wrestling world championship, held that year in São Paulo, with ten days to prepare after a Shooto win over Ryan Bow. In the 77-kilogram semifinal Marcelo Garcia caught him with a rear-naked choke after 24 seconds and went on to win the division. Ribeiro said he had felt there how different grappling trained for MMA was from pure grappling, and that afterwards he decided to compete less in grappling and concentrate on MMA. On December 14, 2003, at Shooto's year-end show, he submitted Joachim Hansen with an arm-triangle choke and took the Shooto world title; Sherdog has called him Nova União's first MMA world champion. He lost the title to Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKO at the next year-end show. When he retired, he called the Hansen fight the biggest win of his MMA career and said that night, together with the Shooto title, built his history in Japan. In London he added the Cage Rage world lightweight title, beating Jean Silva in September 2005 and defending it against Abdul Mohamed and Daisuke Nakamura in 2006. By his own account, one of those trips also helped the young José Aldo. In 2005, he told Sherdog, Cage Rage offered two plane tickets for his fight in England. One went to Pederneiras and the other to Aldo, who, Sherdog writes, had helped Ribeiro a great deal in training for the Cage Rage belt. Aldo stayed on for a month, Ribeiro's agent arranged two fights for him at local British events, and Ribeiro said this made it easier for Pederneiras to take Aldo on to Pancrase and then the WEC. A winning streak that Sherdog counted at nine ended on September 17, 2007, when Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante stopped him in 35 seconds in the semifinal of a K-1 HERO'S tournament. Sherdog reported in February 2009 that, despite rumors he would retire, he planned to fight again that year. He did, at Dream: in April 2009 he beat Katsuhiko Nagata on a doctor stoppage, and in July he lost a decision to Shinya Aoki. His record closes with a unanimous-decision loss to Justin Wilcox at Strikeforce Challengers 12 in November 2010. In August 2013, at 34, he told Tatame that he was retiring from MMA with 20 wins and 5 losses. He said he had taken on so many commitments that he would have to cancel many of them just to fight, and that his one regret was never fighting in Pride, which he had worked hard to reach while he was well ranked. By early 2009 his base had already moved. Sherdog reported that February that he had opened an academy in New York, Modern Martial Arts, and Ribeiro said he had left Brazil to work in jiu-jitsu rather than to fight more. He meant to stay and teach in New York for a long time, he said, and wanted to build a bridge between Nova União in New York and Nova União in Brazil. He had been with Pederneiras for 15 years and owed him a great deal, he said, and developing new athletes had always been a goal the two had in common; he called teaching jiu-jitsu the thing he liked most in his life. In 2010 Graciemag described the arrangement in Manhattan as a partnership with Mario Guerreiro, the director of Modern Martial Arts. When Graciemag visited in February 2011, it reported that he had been in New York since 2008 and found him teaching on the third floor of 780 Eighth Avenue, near 47th Street, arriving early and leaving after nine at night. He said the start had felt awkward, because the public knew little about jiu-jitsu, and that he relaxed after seeing Renzo Gracie's long-term success in the city. Friends from his years in Brazil, Marcos "Loro" Galvão Pereira among them, helped him at the academy. He was rediscovering his own jiu-jitsu, he said, and wanted to grow as a teacher. A month later he and instructor Jen Sung announced the Big Apple Jiu-Jitsu Open, planned for May 2011 in Manhattan, with an award for Renzo Gracie's work in building jiu-jitsu in New York. Gustavo Dantas, whom Graciemag called the pioneer of Nova União in the United States, said in October 2011 that during his own competitive years in Brazil Ribeiro had been among his biggest influences and role models, and the most focused and hard-working person he had met. That December, at the Nova União Invitational, Ribeiro and Robson Moura became members of the Nova União USA Hall of Fame, inducted by Dantas; Graciemag called them "the team's two greatest IBJJF champions." The next day Ribeiro taught a seminar with Moura and Dantas. In October 2013 a camp linking three Manhattan academies opened at his school, Shaolin Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, with a two-hour seminar by Ribeiro on escaping and sweeping from half guard, before moving on to Marcelo Garcia's academy and the Renzo Gracie Academy. In April 2016 Pederneiras came to Ribeiro's midtown Manhattan academy and promoted him to fifth-degree black belt in front of many of his students. Ribeiro said that his life as Dedé's pupil passed before his eyes, and that the degree meant "friendship without asking anything in return." His academy's website now calls him a sixth-degree black belt. Others have described what his teaching looks like from the mat. Rômulo "Caju" Azevedo, a black belt who runs Caju Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Niterói, wrote in 2019 that what he most admired in Ribeiro was a champion's mindset: whether five people turned up or fifty, at the first or the last class of the week, he taught with the same energy, and he had taught Azevedo to push hardest in the final minute of training. In June 2017 Ribeiro gave a two-hour seminar, limited to twenty students, at the Jiu Jitsu Club in Sommacampagna near Verona; the club's post about it said that lessons its author had taken with Ribeiro in New York the year before had changed how he saw jiu-jitsu as a teacher and as an athlete. Since 2013, according to his academy, he has taught in the Scotch Plains area of New Jersey, where he teaches every day; the self-defense classes are taught by him exclusively, under a certification from the Valente Brothers. After nearly ten years away from gi competition, Ribeiro came back for the 2012 World Masters and Senior Championship and won the master 1 black-belt lightweight division, one of IBJJF's age-based categories. In the final against Marcos "Yemaso" Torregrosa, whose open guard he called excellent, he said he worked patiently and was only starting to pass when the six minutes ran out. He told Graciemag that apart from better conditioning he did not think jiu-jitsu had changed in ten years, and that running an academy now limited his competing, since he had to think about his students' training rather than his own. In October 2014 he met Nino Schembri in a superfight at the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo in Long Beach. Beforehand he noted that the two had never faced each other in the 1990s and called Schembri one of the most creative competitors of their era; in the main superfight of the first day he took Schembri down three times and swept him once to win 8-0. In April 2016 he beat Daniel Moraes at the Legends event in Abu Dhabi, and that August, at 37, he won the master 2 lightweight division at the World Master Championship in Las Vegas, beating four opponents, among them Cícero Costha 2-0 in the semifinal and Marcelo Motta 6-0 in the final. Before the tournament he told Graciemag that he had never trained just to take part, always to be champion, and that what he missed most from his fighting years was the build-up: getting better, faster and fitter, dieting and watching his body change. Competing in the gi had always been his passion, he said; he had known when he retired from MMA that he would go back to it, and he wanted to compete at least three times a year. Later outings went the other way. Fernando "Tererê" beat him on a decision at Polaris 4 in Poole, England, in October 2016. At BJJ Stars 12 in April 2024, billed as a rare competition appearance in the last superfight of the night, he lost to Adriano Silva by decision after a 2-2 score on points and 1-0 on advantages. His refereeing began in 2014, when, according to Sherdog, he started officiating amateur MMA fights; soon afterwards the New York State Athletic Commission credentialed him. In April 2015 the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board assigned him to referee Paige VanZant against Felice Herrig and Jim Miller against Beneil Dariush at UFC on Fox 15 in Newark. Sherdog wrote in 2026 that American athletic commissions had gone several years without using Brazilian referees, and that this changed in 2024, when Ribeiro began to be called on more often. By June 2026, according to his Sherdog referee profile, he had refereed nearly 200 fights, and a Graciemag interview that March put his time as a UFC referee at ten years. Later he was picked to referee Joshua Van against Tatsuro Taira, a title fight and the co-main event at UFC 328, and stopped it 1 minute 32 seconds into the fifth round, giving Van the win by TKO. A month later he told Sherdog that, despite some criticism, he remained fully convinced the decision was right. The referee, he said, is there to protect the physical integrity of the fighters; letting a fighter absorb too much punishment can shrink a career of 10 or 15 years to two. He drew the comparison with himself: 20 years earlier he had the same mentality of never giving up, and he is now grateful to the referee who stopped his 2007 fight with Gesias Cavalcante. He also works the grappling side. In March 2026 Graciemag listed him among the referees of UFC BJJ events, alongside Letícia Ribeiro and Ricardo "Cachorrão" Almeida. He told the magazine that he takes the job very seriously, reviews and studies matches, and had given himself to it so fully that he had not competed for some time. Inside a match he tries to keep his head calm and empty, as in a world championship final, and not to separate the athletes until he is sure the moment has come, staying calm in the storm as he did when he competed. He now has a single school, he said, where he teaches his young students in New Jersey, and the rest of his time goes to refereeing. His life, he told Sherdog, had been given first to jiu-jitsu and later to MMA, and he was glad to give back to the sport both by teaching and by refereeing. Asked whether the new generation is better, he said he was not sure the comparison was fair, and named Léo Vieira, Royler Gracie and Robson Moura among the fast, technical champions he had fought and trained with who would hold their own against any generation.

Sources for this profile

  • Sherdog, fighter profile "Vitor Ribeiro".(opens in a new tab)

    • Sherdog's fighter profile for Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro gives his date of birth as February 24, 1979.

      Where in the source: Fighter header, age row — "FEB 24, 1979"

      Accessed:

    • Sherdog lists Ribeiro's nationality as Brazil, with Rio de Janeiro as his locality and Brazilian jiu-jitsu as his style.

      Where in the source: Fighter header — country line above the name, marked as the nationality field in the page HTML

      Accessed:

    • Sherdog's professional MMA record for Ribeiro shows 20 wins and 5 losses, running from a win over Charlie Kohler at World Fighting Alliance 1 on November 3, 2001 to a unanimous-decision loss to Justin Wilcox at Strikeforce Challengers 12 on November 19, 2010.

      Where in the source: Fight history - pro table, first and last rows; summary counts "WINS 20" and "LOSSES 5"

      Accessed:

    • Sherdog's record shows Ribeiro beating Joachim Hansen by arm-triangle choke at Shooto's Year End Show on December 14, 2003, losing to Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKO at the following Year End Show on December 14, 2004, and winning Cage Rage bouts against Jean Silva (September 2005), Abdul Mohamed (September 2006) and Daisuke Nakamura (December 2006).

      Where in the source: Fight history - pro table — rows for Joachim Hansen (Dec 14, 2003), Tatsuya Kawajiri (Dec 14, 2004) and the Cage Rage 13, 18 and 19 events

      Accessed:

    • Sherdog's record lists Ribeiro's 2007 K-1 HERO'S bouts (wins over Ryuki Ueyama and Kazuyuki Miyata, then a 35-second TKO loss to Gesias Cavalcante on September 17, 2007) and his 2009 Dream bouts (a doctor-stoppage TKO win over Katsuhiko Nagata on April 5 and a decision loss to Shinya Aoki on July 20).

      Where in the source: Fight history - pro table — rows for Dream 10, Dream 8 and the three K-1 HERO's events

      Accessed:

  • Stephan Kesting, "Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro on Top of the BJJ World: An interview with a grappling legend", Grapplearts, April 4, 2012 (first published in Black Belt Magazine, August 2004).(opens in a new tab)

    • Ribeiro said his nickname, Shaolin, dates from age 14, when he would sit cross-legged with his eyes closed before class, pretending to meditate to impress the other students, until someone called him Shaolin.

      Where in the source: Answer to the opening question about the nickname — "pretend to meditate"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro said he started jiu-jitsu at 14 after losing a street fight to someone who trained Luta Livre; at the time he was only doing Muay Thai, and about a month later a friend invited him to a jiu-jitsu school.

      Where in the source: Answer on how long he has been training — "Luta Livre"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro said that after two months of training he entered a tournament, won his first two fights and lost the final to a yellow belt, and that as a student he trained two or three times a day, with school in the morning and the afternoons and evenings free for training.

      Where in the source: Same answer, following paragraphs — "yellow belt"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro called André Pederneiras his only jiu-jitsu teacher and said Pederneiras founded Nova União together with Wendell Alexander.

      Where in the source: Answer on whom he started with — "my only teacher"

      Accessed:

    • In Ribeiro's account, Nova União formed when Pederneiras, who taught adults, joined Wendell Alexander, who taught children, because winning team tournaments in Brazil required both; the team then began winning many tournaments in Rio.

      Where in the source: Answer on Nova União and team loyalty — "taught kids"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro said he trained for three years before winning the world title as a purple belt in 1996, and that his school then had up to 80 people training at once, with purple, brown and black belts together, who went running for conditioning after training.

      Where in the source: Answer on how long he trained before his first world title — "80 people"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro said that when he was young his teacher had the students spar no-holds-barred style after class, without the gi and with open-hand slaps, which gave them some experience of striking and wrestling.

      Where in the source: Answer on succeeding in NHB — "with slaps"

      Accessed:

    • For MMA, Ribeiro said he trained Muay Thai with Luis Alves, boxing with Claudio Coelho and wrestling for about two years with Darryl Gholar; he said Gholar's Greco-Roman clinch work made his game more complete after he had relied on double- and single-leg takedowns.

      Where in the source: Answers on the gi-to-no-gi transition and on Darryl Gholar — "more complete"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro described a three-month camp for a Shooto fight that moved from mostly gi training to no-gi only in the final month, and said the gi is good for details because an escape that works against the gi is easy once the gi comes off.

      Where in the source: Answer on whether gi training helps in NHB — "good for details"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro said that when he competed in 'Abu Dhabi' (the ADCC submission wrestling championship) the year before the interview, he had ten days to prepare after a Shooto win over Ryan Bow, felt the difference between grappling trained for MMA and pure grappling, and decided afterwards to compete less in grappling and concentrate on MMA.

      Where in the source: Answer on the hardest part of the move from pure BJJ to NHB — "10 days"

      Accessed:

    • In the 2004 interview, Ribeiro listed four world titles: as a purple belt in 1996 and as a black belt in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

      Where in the source: Introduction (original publication note) and the answer listing his titles

      Accessed:

    • Asked for advice to beginners, Ribeiro said they should first find a legitimate teacher and should learn the history of jiu-jitsu, adding that he had come to know many older figures who were important in its early development.

      Where in the source: Answer on advice for people starting BJJ, second paragraph (on learning the art's history)

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Vitor Shaolin analisa UFC BJJ e os desafios do dojo em forma de cumbuca", March 11, 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Asked whether the new generation is better, Ribeiro said he was not sure the comparison is fair, naming Léo Vieira, Royler Gracie and Robson Moura among the fast, technical champions he fought and trained with who would hold their own against any generation.

      Where in the source: Answer on the new generation (Portuguese) — "não ficam nada a dever"

      Accessed:

    • Graciemag reported in March 2026 that Ribeiro was among the referees of UFC BJJ events, alongside Letícia Ribeiro and Ricardo "Cachorrão" Almeida, and that between events he was teaching at a new academy in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.

      Where in the source: Article introduction (Portuguese) — "novíssima academia"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro told Graciemag in 2026 that he takes refereeing very seriously, reviews and studies matches, and had devoted himself to it so fully that he had not competed for some time; he teaches his young students in New Jersey and spends the rest of his time on refereeing, and he said he now has only one school.

      Where in the source: First answer and the closing answer (Portuguese) — "não tenho competido", "apenas uma escola"

      Accessed:

    • Describing how he referees, Ribeiro said he tries to keep a calm, empty head, as in a world championship final, and not to separate athletes until he is sure it is time, staying calm in the storm as he did as an athlete.

      Where in the source: Answer on what goes through his head while refereeing (Portuguese) — "calmo durante o maremoto"

      Accessed:

    • In a March 2026 interview question, Graciemag stated that Ribeiro had completed ten years as a UFC referee.

      Where in the source: First interview question (Portuguese) — "dez como árbitro no UFC"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Throwback Thursday: watch Vitor Shaolin vs. Paulo Filho in the '90s", February 13, 2014.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the first Brazilian Championship in 1994, Ribeiro, then 15, met Paulo Filho in the semifinal of the blue-belt open class; Ribeiro recalled that Filho had many supporters while he had only Dedé Pederneiras, who advised him to play guard and sweep, and that he had five fights in his weight class and four in the open class.

      Where in the source: Article body and Ribeiro's recollection — "only Dedé Pederneiras on my side"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, results, World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 1996.(opens in a new tab)

    • IBJJF's 1996 World Championship results list Vitor Ribeiro of Nova União first in the adult male purple-belt featherweight division.

      Where in the source: Division heading "ADULT / PURPLE / MALE / FEATHER", place 1 — "Vitor Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, results, Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship 1996.(opens in a new tab)

    • IBJJF's 1996 Pan Championship results list Vitor Ribeiro (team listed as Lewis–Nova União) first in the adult male brown-belt featherweight division.

      Where in the source: Division heading "ADULT / BROWN / MALE / FEATHER", place 1 — "Vitor Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, results, World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 1997.(opens in a new tab)

    • IBJJF's 1997 World Championship results list Royler Gracie (Gracie Humaitá/Iate) first and Vitor Ribeiro of Nova União second in the adult male black-belt featherweight division.

      Where in the source: Division heading "ADULT / BLACK / MALE / FEATHER", place 2 — "Vitor Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Estudando Jiu-Jitsu: Royler Gracie x Vitor Shaolin no Mundial 1997", December 8, 2013.(opens in a new tab)

    • Graciemag describes the 1997 IBJJF World Championship featherweight gold-medal match as a contest between Royler Gracie and Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro.

      Where in the source: Opening sentence (Portuguese) — "disputa da medalha de ouro peso-pena"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, results, Campeonato Brasileiro de Jiu-Jitsu 1998.(opens in a new tab)

    • IBJJF's 1998 Brazilian Championship results list Vitor Ribeiro of Nova União first in the adult male black-belt featherweight division.

      Where in the source: Division heading "ADULT / BLACK / MALE / FEATHER", place 1 — "Vitor Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, results, World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 1999.(opens in a new tab)

    • IBJJF's 1999 World Championship results list Vitor Ribeiro of Nova União first and Márcio Feitosa of Gracie Barra second in the adult male black-belt lightweight division.

      Where in the source: Division heading "ADULT / BLACK / MALE / LIGHT", place 1 — "Vitor Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, results, Campeonato Brasileiro de Jiu-Jitsu 1999.(opens in a new tab)

    • IBJJF's 1999 Brazilian Championship results list Márcio Feitosa of Gracie Barra first and Vitor Ribeiro of Nova União second in the adult male black-belt lightweight division.

      Where in the source: Division heading "ADULT / BLACK / MALE / LIGHT", place 2 — "Vitor Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, results, World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2000.(opens in a new tab)

    • IBJJF's 2000 World Championship results list Vitor Ribeiro of Nova União first and Márcio Feitosa of Gracie Barra second in the adult male black-belt lightweight division.

      Where in the source: Division heading "ADULT / BLACK / MALE / LIGHT", place 1 — "Vitor Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, results, World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2001.(opens in a new tab)

    • IBJJF's 2001 World Championship results list Vitor Ribeiro of Nova União first and Fernando Augusto of Alliance second in the adult male black-belt middleweight division.

      Where in the source: Division heading "ADULT / BLACK / MALE / MIDDLE", place 1 — "Vitor Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, results, Master & Senior World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2012.(opens in a new tab)

    • IBJJF's results for the 2012 Master & Senior World Championship list Vitor de Souza Ribeiro of Nova União first and Marcos Alejandro Torregrosa second in the male master 1 black-belt lightweight division.

      Where in the source: Division heading "MALE / MASTER 1 / BLACK / LIGHT", place 1 — "Vitor de Souza Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, results, World Master Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship 2016.(opens in a new tab)

    • IBJJF's 2016 World Master Championship results list Vitor de Souza Ribeiro, team Vitor Shaolin BJJ, first in the male master 2 black-belt lightweight division, with Marcelo dos Santos Motta second.

      Where in the source: Division heading "MALE / MASTER 2 / BLACK / LIGHT", place 1 — "Vitor de Souza Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Shaolin and gi return: 'Honestly, Jiu-Jitsu hasn't changed one bit'", October 18, 2012.(opens in a new tab)

    • Graciemag reported that Ribeiro returned to sport jiu-jitsu at the 2012 World Masters & Senior Championship after nearly a decade without competing in the gi, winning lightweight gold; he said that in the final against Marcos "Yemaso" Torregrosa, who had an excellent open guard, he fought patiently and was only starting to pass when time ran out in the six-minute match.

      Where in the source: Introduction and the answer on his path to gold — "nearly a decade"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro told Graciemag in 2012 that he did not think jiu-jitsu had changed in ten years apart from better physical conditioning, and that running his academy now limited his competing because he had to think about his students' training rather than his own.

      Where in the source: Answers on change in jiu-jitsu and on competing in Brazil again — "my students' training"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Another world champion among us", July 15, 2010.(opens in a new tab)

    • In July 2010 Graciemag announced that Ribeiro had joined its GMA academy network and was teaching in Manhattan in partnership with Mario Guerreiro, director of the school Modern Martial Arts.

      Where in the source: Article body — "Modern martial Arts"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Exclusive class with Vitor Shaolin in Manhattan", February 16, 2011.(opens in a new tab)

    • Graciemag reported in February 2011 that Ribeiro had been in New York since 2008 and taught at an academy on the third floor of 780 8th Avenue near 47th Street in Manhattan, arriving early and leaving after nine at night.

      Where in the source: First paragraph — "since 2008"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro told Graciemag that starting out in New York felt awkward because jiu-jitsu was not well known to the public, and that he relaxed after seeing the long-term success Renzo Gracie had had there; Graciemag added that friends from his days in Brazil, among them Marcos "Loro" Galvão Pereira, helped him at the academy.

      Where in the source: Second and third paragraphs — "a bit awkward"

      Accessed:

    • In 2011 Ribeiro said he was rediscovering his jiu-jitsu, was fully focused on it and sought to evolve as a teacher, and that IBJJF events had become the biggest showcases, bringing seminars and students and letting more people make a living from jiu-jitsu.

      Where in the source: Fifth paragraph, Ribeiro's quote — "evolve as a teacher"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Shaolin lança Big Apple Open em NY e homenageia Renzo", March 11, 2011.(opens in a new tab)

    • In March 2011 Graciemag reported that Ribeiro and instructor Jen Sung were launching the Big Apple Jiu-Jitsu Open, a tournament planned for May 14, 2011 in Manhattan, which was to give Renzo Gracie an award for his work developing jiu-jitsu in New York City.

      Where in the source: Article body (Portuguese) — "Big Apple Jiu-Jitsu Open"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Team Nova União USA to gather in Arizona for special weekend", October 21, 2011.(opens in a new tab)

    • Gustavo Dantas, whom Graciemag called the Nova União USA pioneer, told Graciemag that while he was competing and living in Brazil, Ribeiro was one of his biggest influences and role models, and that he had never met anyone so focused and hard-working.

      Where in the source: Dantas's quote, fourth paragraph — "biggest influences and role models"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Nova União Invitational a success; Shaolin and Robson join Hall of Fame", December 7, 2011.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the inaugural Nova União Invitational on December 3–4, 2011, Gustavo Dantas inducted Robson Moura and Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro into the Nova União USA Hall of Fame, which Graciemag described as honoring the team's two greatest IBJJF champions; the next day Ribeiro taught at a seminar with Moura and Dantas.

      Where in the source: Second and third paragraphs — "Nova União USA Hall of Fame"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Legends of Rio in the Heart of the Big Apple", October 14, 2013.(opens in a new tab)

    • In October 2013 a New York jiu-jitsu camp linking three Manhattan academies opened with a two-hour seminar by Ribeiro on half-guard escapes and sweeps at his school, Shaolin Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, followed by sessions at Marcelo Garcia's academy and the Renzo Gracie Academy.

      Where in the source: Second paragraph — "half guard escapes and sweeps"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Vitor Shaolin receives fifth degree to his black belt from Dedé Pederneiras", April 28, 2016.(opens in a new tab)

    • In April 2016 André Pederneiras promoted Ribeiro to fifth-degree black belt at Ribeiro's midtown Manhattan academy, in front of many of his students; Ribeiro said his life as Dedé's student flashed before his eyes and that the degree meant "friendship without asking anything in return".

      Where in the source: Article body and Ribeiro's quote — "5th degree black belt"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Motivated after win in Abu Dhabi, Vitor Shaolin seeks World Master title", August 19, 2016.(opens in a new tab)

    • Graciemag reported in August 2016 that Ribeiro, then 37, had beaten two-time world champion Daniel Moraes at the Legends event in Abu Dhabi that April and was entering the master 2 lightweight division of the World Masters in Las Vegas; the article summarized his three black-belt world titles as two at lightweight and one at middleweight.

      Where in the source: Introduction — "Legends"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro told Graciemag in 2016 that he had never trained just to take part, always to be champion, and that what he missed most from his fighting years was the build-up before a competition: improving, getting faster and fitter, dieting and seeing his body change.

      Where in the source: Answers on his focus and on what he misses — "always to be a champion"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro said competing in the gi had always been his passion, that he knew when he retired from MMA he would return to the gi, and that he wanted to compete at least three times a year in tournaments or superfights.

      Where in the source: Answer on competing in the gi again — "always been my passion"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Rafael Lovato Jr. gets double gold at master 1; Vitor Shaolin stands out at master 2", August 26, 2016.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2016 World Master Championship in Las Vegas, Ribeiro beat four opponents to win master 2 lightweight gold, including a 2-0 semifinal win over Cícero Costha and a 6-0 final win over Marcelo Motta.

      Where in the source: Section "Shaolin beats four to get gold at master-2" — "defeated four opponents"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "15 years ago: Marcelo Garcia's historic RNC on Vitor Shaolin in the ADCC", January 25, 2018.(opens in a new tab)

    • Graciemag recalls that at ADCC 2003 in São Paulo, in the 77 kg division, Ribeiro (described as a serious contender for gold) met Marcelo Garcia in the semifinal and lost to a rear-naked choke after 24 seconds; Garcia went on to win the division.

      Where in the source: Third and fourth paragraphs — "lasted 24 seconds"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "WJJE Superfights: Nino, Shaolin promise battle in name of Jiu-Jitsu good ol' days", September 16, 2014.(opens in a new tab)

    • Ahead of a superfight with Nino Schembri at the 2014 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo (October 18–19, Long Beach Convention Center), Ribeiro said the two had never met in the 1990s and called Schembri one of the most creative competitors of their time.

      Where in the source: Ribeiro's quotes, middle of article — "most creative competitors"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "World Jiu-Jitsu Expo: Shaolin, Robinho superfight champions, AOJ wins Kids Nationals", October 19, 2014.(opens in a new tab)

    • In the main superfight on the first day of the 2014 World Jiu-Jitsu Expo, Ribeiro took Nino Schembri down three times and swept him once to win 8-0.

      Where in the source: Paragraph on the main event — "win 8-0"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Tererê is back! BJJ legend passes Shaolin's guard in Polaris superfight", October 29, 2016.(opens in a new tab)

    • At Polaris 4 in Poole, England, on October 29, 2016, Fernando "Tererê" defeated Ribeiro by decision.

      Where in the source: Results list — first line, "via decision"

      Accessed:

  • Graciemag, "Rômulo Caju, Vitor Shaolin e a mente de campeão para vencer no Jiu-Jitsu e na vida", July 9, 2019.(opens in a new tab)

    • Rômulo "Caju" Azevedo, a black belt who leads Caju Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Niterói, wrote that what he most admires in Ribeiro is his champion's mindset: whether five or fifty people attend, first or last class of the week, Ribeiro teaches with the same energy, and he taught Azevedo to push hardest in the final minute of training.

      Where in the source: Azevedo's text (Portuguese) — "mentalidade de campeão"

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  • Gleidson Venga, "Shaolin's Return Imminent", Sherdog, February 17, 2009.(opens in a new tab)

    • Sherdog reported in February 2009 that Ribeiro, then 29, planned to return to MMA in 2009 despite rumors that he would retire; his previous fight had been a 35-second TKO loss to Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante in the semifinal of the K-1 HERO'S middleweight tournament in September 2007.

      Where in the source: Opening paragraphs — "potential retirement"

      Accessed:

    • Sherdog wrote that before the Cavalcante loss Ribeiro had won nine consecutive fights, and that he was one of only three men to have submitted Joachim Hansen, by then Dream's lightweight champion.

      Where in the source: Paragraph after his quotes on the rumors — "nine consecutive", "only three men"

      Accessed:

    • Sherdog reported in February 2009 that Ribeiro had opened an academy in New York City, Modern Martial Arts; Ribeiro said he had left Brazil to work in jiu-jitsu rather than to fight more, intended to stay and teach in New York for a long time, and wanted to build a bridge between Nova União in New York and in Brazil.

      Where in the source: Paragraphs on his New York academy — "Modern Martial Arts"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro told Sherdog in 2009 that he had been with André Pederneiras for 15 years, owed him a lot, and that they had always shared the wish to bring up new athletes; he called teaching jiu-jitsu the thing he liked most in his life.

      Where in the source: Paragraph crediting his mentor — "15 years"

      Accessed:

    • Sherdog described Ribeiro in 2009 as a one-time Shooto and Cage Rage champion, citing wins over Mitsuhiro Ishida, Ivan Menjivar and Tatsuya Kawajiri.

      Where in the source: Closing paragraphs — "Shooto and Cage Rage champion"

      Accessed:

  • Guilherme Cruz, "Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro announces retirement from MMA", MMA Fighting, August 2013.(opens in a new tab)

    • MMA Fighting reported in August 2013 that Ribeiro, 34, had announced his retirement from MMA in an interview with Tatame, leaving with a 20-5 record; he said he had so many commitments that he would have to cancel many of them just to fight, and that he did not see himself fighting MMA again.

      Where in the source: Opening paragraphs — "announced his retirement"

      Accessed:

    • On retiring, Ribeiro said his one regret was never fighting in Pride, which he said he had tried hard to reach while ranked well, and he named his win over Joachim Hansen as the biggest of his MMA career, a special moment that built his history in Japan with the Shooto title.

      Where in the source: Quotes on Pride and on Hansen — "fought at Pride", "biggest win"

      Accessed:

  • Tristen Critchfield, "NJSACB Releases Referee, Judging Assignments for UFC on Fox 15", Sherdog, April 16, 2015.(opens in a new tab)

    • The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board's assignments for UFC on Fox 15 in Newark in April 2015, reported by Sherdog, named Ribeiro as referee for Paige VanZant vs. Felice Herrig and Jim Miller vs. Beneil Dariush.

      Where in the source: Assignment list — "Referee: Vitor Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • Todd Blackett, "BJJ Stars 12 Full Lineup Announced", Jitsmagazine, March 22, 2024.(opens in a new tab)

    • Jitsmagazine's lineup for BJJ Stars 12 (April 27, 2024) billed Ribeiro against Adriano Silva as the final superfight of the night and called it a rare competition appearance.

      Where in the source: Introduction — "rare competition appearance"

      Accessed:

  • Jitsmagazine, "BJJ Stars 12 Full Results And Review", April 28, 2024.(opens in a new tab)

    • At BJJ Stars 12 on April 27, 2024, Adriano Silva defeated Ribeiro by decision after a 2-2 score on points and 1-0 on advantages.

      Where in the source: Results list — "1-0 on Advantages"

      Accessed:

  • Vitor Shaolin Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy, home page.(opens in a new tab)

    • The website of Vitor Shaolin Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy describes its owner, Vitor Shaolin, as a black belt who regularly teaches at the academy's studio in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.

      Where in the source: Section "Expert Instruction" — "VSBJJA owner Vitor Shaolin"

      Accessed:

    • The academy's website calls Vitor Shaolin a 6-degree black belt.

      Where in the source: Section "Expert Instruction" — "6-degree blackbelt"

      Accessed:

    • The academy's website says its self-defense classes are taught exclusively by Vitor Shaolin, who is Valente Brothers certified to teach self-defense.

      Where in the source: Section "Self-Defense Classes" — "Valente Brothers certified"

      Accessed:

  • Vitor Shaolin Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy, "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu School" (adult classes).(opens in a new tab)

    • The academy's adult-classes page says Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro teaches classes daily at its Scotch Plains facility and has been teaching jiu-jitsu in the Scotch Plains, New Jersey area since 2013.

      Where in the source: Adult classes page, second and third paragraphs — "since 2013"

      Accessed:

  • Wikipedia, "Vítor Ribeiro" (last edited July 19, 2026).(opens in a new tab)

    • Wikipedia's medal table credits Ribeiro with a bronze medal at the 2003 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in the -77 kg division.

      Where in the source: Infobox medal record, ADCC World Championship row — "-77 kg"

      Accessed:

    • Wikipedia's MMA record notes the December 2003 win over Joachim Hansen as winning the Shooto world lightweight title and the December 2004 loss to Tatsuya Kawajiri as losing it, and the September 2005 win over Jean Silva as winning the Cage Rage world lightweight title, defended against Abdul Mohamed and Daisuke Nakamura in 2006.

      Where in the source: Mixed martial arts record table, notes column — "Defended Cage Rage World Lightweight Championship"

      Accessed:

    • Wikipedia's record table places Ribeiro's Cage Rage fights of 2005 and 2006 in London, England.

      Where in the source: Mixed martial arts record table, location column of the Cage Rage rows — "London, England"

      Accessed:

    • Wikipedia gives Ribeiro's full name as Vitor de Souza Ribeiro and his birthplace as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

      Where in the source: Infobox, Born row — "Vitor de Souza Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

  • Jiu Jitsu Club (Verona), "Vitor Shaolin Ribeiro. From NY to JJC.", July 13, 2017.(opens in a new tab)

    • Jiu Jitsu Club of Sommacampagna near Verona reported that Ribeiro taught a two-hour seminar, limited to twenty of its students, at the club on June 23, 2017; the author wrote that lessons he had taken from Ribeiro in New York the year before changed his view of jiu-jitsu as teacher and athlete.

      Where in the source: Blog post (Italian), third paragraph — "venerdi 23 Giugno 2017"

      Accessed:

  • Marcelo Alonso, "Vitor Shaolin: 'The referee can shorten a fighter's career from 10 to 2 years'", Sherdog, June 10, 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Sherdog reported in June 2026 that Ribeiro began refereeing amateur MMA fights in 2014, was soon afterwards credentialed by the New York State Athletic Commission, and had refereed nearly 200 fights according to his Sherdog referee profile.

      Where in the source: Paragraph on his life in New York, near the end — "nearly 200 fights"

      Accessed:

    • Sherdog wrote that for several years American athletic commissions had used no Brazilian referees, and that this changed in 2024 when Ribeiro began to be called on more often; he was later chosen to referee the Joshua Van–Tatsuro Taira title fight, the co-main event of UFC 328.

      Where in the source: Opening two paragraphs — "UFC 328"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro stopped the Van–Taira fight 1 minute 32 seconds into the fifth round, giving Van the TKO win, and told Sherdog a month later that despite some criticism he remained fully convinced the decision was right.

      Where in the source: Third paragraph — "fifth round"

      Accessed:

    • Ribeiro told Sherdog that the referee is there to protect the physical integrity of the fighters, that letting a fighter take that kind of punishment can shrink a 10- or 15-year career to two years, and that 20 years earlier he had the same never-give-up mentality and is now grateful to the referee who stopped his own 2007 fight with Gesias Cavalcante.

      Where in the source: Third and fourth paragraphs — "preserve the physical integrity"

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    • Ribeiro told Sherdog that in 2005, when Cage Rage offered two plane tickets for his fight in England, one went to André Pederneiras and the other to the young José Aldo, who, Sherdog writes, had helped him a lot in training for the Cage Rage belt; Aldo stayed on for a month, Ribeiro's agent arranged two fights for him at local British events, and Ribeiro said this made it easier for Pederneiras to take Aldo to Pancrase and then the WEC.

      Where in the source: Section on José Aldo — "two air tickets"

      Accessed:

    • Sherdog describes Ribeiro as Nova União's first MMA world champion.

      Where in the source: Opening sentence of the section on José Aldo (Sherdog's own description)

      Accessed:

    • Sherdog reported in June 2026 that Ribeiro, living in New York since 2008, divides his time between teaching jiu-jitsu at his academy in New Jersey and refereeing MMA; he said his life had been dedicated to jiu-jitsu and then to MMA, and that he was happy to give back to the sport by teaching and refereeing.

      Where in the source: Final two paragraphs — "give back to the sport"

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Competition results

Recorded tournament results, newest first
YearEventResultDivision
2003ADCC 2003Source: adcombat.com-77 kgNo-giVerified3rd place-77 kgNo-giVerified
2001IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-82 kgGiVerified1st place-82 kgGiVerified
2000IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-76 kgGiVerified1st place-76 kgGiVerified
1999IBJJF World ChampionshipSource: en.wikipedia.org-76 kgGiVerified1st place-76 kgGiVerified

Lineage

View in lineage tree

Trained under