Victor Hugo has just unveiled a stunning gi with his trademark ‘Big Man Flow’ nickname stitched into it as a way of announcing his return to gi competition soon. Hugo is one of the top ultra-heavyweight competitors in the world and he’s already won the IBJJF World Championship four times during his career, so there isn’t really anything left for him to prove in the sport. He actually won his first black belt world title in no gi back in 2019, but he enjoyed a sustained period of success in the gi from 2021 to 2023 that saw him win his weight class three times and the absolute division once.
After becoming the double champion in 2023, Hugo entered the IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix that same year and came away with a silver medal in one of the toughest gi tournaments in recent memory. He beat his first two opponents by submission but the final match where he lost on points to Nicholas Meregali was the last time that he set foot on the competition mats in a gi. Hugo has been focusing exclusively on his no gi career since then, taking on some of the best grapplers in the world in a series of superfights for both Who’s Number One and UFC Fight Pass Invitational.
Hugo has been flawless throughout those appearances too, racking up a perfect 3-0 record at each of those promotions. Most recently he was seen submitting Nicky Rodriguez in the main event of UFC Fight Pass Invitational 10, a rematch that was quite a long time in the making. In fact, Hugo has only lost a single match since the last time he put a gi on, and it was when he was submitted by Lucas Kanard in the opening round of the Craig Jones Invitational last year. Hugo is one of the best in the world regardless of ruleset, but it’ll be interesting to see what he does now that he’s putting the gi back on again.
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Victor Hugo announced the news that he was going to make a return to gi competition in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
