Five time Jiu Jitsu world champion Bibiano Fernandes hosted a seminar at Kaiten Mixed Martial Arts Academy

By Tommy Osborne

World Champion

5X world champion hosts seminar in Prince George

Jun 8, 2024 | 4:21 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Kaiten Mixed Martial Arts Academy was packed with jiu jitsu students today, as five-time world jiu jitsu champion Bibiano Fernandes was in Prince George today hosting a seminar. On top of being a five-time world champion, he is also a three-time Pan-American champion, holds the record for most ONE Championship bantamweight division title fight wins, and many more accolades in a long and storied career.

“Jiu jitsu changed my life. It changed my life, I believe it can change a lot of lives, a lot of people,” Fernandes said when discussing jiu jitsu.

Jiu jitsu is more than a sport to Fernandes, it’s a way of life. He explained he started jiu jitsu when he was seven years old, shortly after his mother passed away. Looking for something to help him grow, Fernandes explains he soon got into jiu jitsu and immediately fell in love with it.

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“When I put on the gi, I feel that pressure I was having, confusion, doubt, disappear from my mind. So I say from day one I will keep doing jiu jitsu because I know jiu jitsu is very important for the mental health, for the physical health. And that make me more calm,” he said.

Fernandes’s passion and approach to jiu jitsu translates to his teaching methods and his students as well. Beyond improving technique and skill, Fernandes hopes his students learn about the jiu jitsu way of life.

“I will teach more discipline, respect, behaviour. That’s going to be my goal for the kids in there,” he said.

Fernandes focused on discipline as a key aspect of both jiu jitsu and life, saying the martial art taught him discipline which gave him the strength to also improve as a person. He says jiu jitsu gives people the tools to not only strengthen themselves, but lift others up in the process too. He strongly believes in the value of creating a supportive community and hopes to create an environment with his students focused on self improvement and helping each other.

“Discipline is good to have. Believe in yourself, believe in your coach, believe in the future, right?” We have to always want to be better in life too,” he said.

Those who attended the seminar certainly had a memorable experience, and appreciated both Fernandes’s words and his advice on how to improve technique.

“Having Bibiano here is a new experience. It adds a whole new layer to everybody’s games,” said Chandler Blokland, one seminar attendee.

“He’s teaching us techniques and little details we wouldn’t have otherwise found by ourselves,” added fellow attendee Dakota Chang.

Fernandes runs his academy, Flash Academy, out of Langley. To learn more you can visit its website here.

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