Vladislavs Cernavskis
Vladislavs Čerņavskis brought his sambo background into BJJ teaching in Riga, developing students through international training links.
Biography
Sources for this profile
Jānis Pārums, interview with Vladislavs Čerņavskis, Sportacentrs, November 18, 2011(opens in a new tab)
Vladislavs Čerņavskis is a Latvian combat-sports athlete and coach.
Where in the source: Opening identification as a Latvian wrestler.
Accessed:
He began sambo in his first school year, drawn to an accessible and popular sport in the Soviet period.
Where in the source: First question and answer.
Accessed:
In 2011 he recalled preparing for four months for a final major combat-sambo campaign.
Where in the source: Answer about the season and intended departure.
Accessed:
He described coaching his brother Artūrs and taking greater satisfaction in his brother’s effort than in his own performances.
Where in the source: Question about Artūrs at the2011 Worlds.
Accessed:
After the 2011 championships, he planned to promote BJJ, teach younger athletes and continue competing himself.
Where in the source: Question about what he would do next.
Accessed:
He wanted to leave full-contact combat sambo because of its injury risk, while leaving open further sport-sambo competition.
Where in the source: Answer about future sporting plans.
Accessed:
He described coaching as a passion and recognised that pupils with jobs could not be expected to train twice daily.
Where in the source: Answer on training resources and students’ working lives.
Accessed:
He hoped to take a team to the following January’s European BJJ Championship in Portugal if funding allowed.
Where in the source: Question about upcoming BJJ championships.
Accessed:
BJJ Eastern Europe, Vladislavs Čerņavskis interview, July 10, 2014(opens in a new tab)
He began BJJ while living in England, training at London’s BJJ School under Felipe de Souza, who awarded him brown belt.
Where in the source: Answer about his jiu-jitsu story.
Accessed:
He pursued seminars and visits to academies abroad before establishing a teacher relationship with Marcelo Giudici.
Where in the source: Jiu-jitsu story, seminar travel and meeting Giudici.
Accessed:
By July 2014 he was a BJJ black belt under Marcelo Giudici.
Where in the source: Opening answer, BJJ rank.
Accessed:
He represented Giudici in Latvia and trained at LEWC, the Latvian Extreme Wrestlers Club, in Riga.
Where in the source: Opening introduction and jiu-jitsu story.
Accessed:
He recalled arranging a BJJ seminar on July 17, 2010, taught by Luiz Jackson Fortunato of the Rilion Gracie team.
Where in the source: Question about Latvia’s BJJ development.
Accessed:
He saw Latvia’s active no-gi scene as a meeting point for BJJ practitioners and competitors from other grappling and MMA schools.
Where in the source: Answer about the Baltic countries.
Accessed:
In 2014 his priority was more local gi and no-gi tournaments and wider international opportunities for his students.
Where in the source: Answer about the team’s2014 future.
Accessed:
By that interview, he said his students had competed in England, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland.
Where in the source: Team’s2014 plans, students’ existing international experience.
Accessed:
Demian Maia Latvia, About us and academy black belts(opens in a new tab)
His academy dates his black-belt award to October 2013.
Where in the source: Academy black-belt list, Vladislavs entry.
Accessed:
He is the head instructor of Demian Maia’s Latvian academy branch.
Where in the source: Our instructors, Vladislavs Čerņavskis.
Accessed:
Latvian BJJ Federation, contemporary 2014–2015 news archive(opens in a new tab)
An October 2014 Latvian BJJ Federation report named him as LEWC’s coach at the Baltic BJJ Open in Lithuania.
Where in the source: BJJ Baltic Open Championship Lithuania, October25,2014.
Accessed:
The federation recorded LEWC’s first place in the 2014 Latvian Open gi team standings and second place in the no-gi team standings.
Where in the source: 2014 gi and no-gi team standings.
Accessed:
Colin Leigh, Kristiansand training report, BJJ Eastern Europe, November 14, 2017(opens in a new tab)
In 2017, Colin Leigh identified himself as a newly promoted blue belt under Čerņavskis at LEWC–Giudici BJJ in Riga.
Where in the source: Opening autobiographical paragraph.
Accessed:
Demian Maia, Vladjitsu Academy affiliate profile(opens in a new tab)
Demian Maia’s official affiliate site lists Čerņavskis as the black-belt instructor at Vladjitsu Academy in Riga.
Where in the source: Vladjitsu Academy, named instructor entry.
Accessed:
His cross-discipline credentials include a second-dan judo black belt and a sambo Master of Sport rank.
Where in the source: Named instructor credentials.
Accessed:
Demian Maia Latvia, Vladislavs Čerņavskis instructor profile(opens in a new tab)
The academy currently lists him as a third-degree BJJ black belt under Demian Maia.
Where in the source: Final BJJ qualification bullet.
Accessed:
His academy records a 2024 ADCC Finnish Open masters title at90kg.
Where in the source: BJJ/Grappling/ADCC achievements,2024 entry.
Accessed:
The academy’s record places a 1995 sambo world title at65kg and identifies his1992–1994 international medals as youth and junior achievements.
Where in the source: Sambo list,1995 and1992–1994 entries.
Accessed:
Demian Maia Latvia, training programmes(opens in a new tab)
The academy offers BJJ, judo, MMA, grappling and sambo, alongside individual instruction.
Where in the source: Training programme list and linked academy homepage.
Accessed:
Lineage
No teaching connections are shown on this page.
Open lineage