Gokor Chivichyan

Chivichyan, the youngest of three brothers, was born in Yerevan, Armenia. Chivichyan began his training as a young child in Soviet Armenia, winning national junior titles in judo, sambo, and wrestling. At the age of 17, Chivichyan relocated to Los Angeles, California where he continued his training in no-gi submission wrestling under Gene LeBell, a famous Catch wrestler and the United States' first Judo champion.[3] Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Chivichyan traveled and competed in the Soviet Union and throughout Europe, Japan, Thailand, and Mexico. With the opening of the Hayastan MMA Academy in 1991, Gokor retired undefeated from professional fighting, and focused his time on teaching.[4]

In 1997, Chivichyan came out of retirement for a superfight organized by the World Fighting Federation. His opponent was intended to be Akira Maeda, but the promoters were unable to sign him and instead matched Chivichyan against Bill Maeda, who was dubbed "Mr. Maeda". Chivichyan submitted Maeda via armbar in 50 seconds.[4]

He was named by Black Belt Magazine as “Judo Instructor of the Year” in 1998 and received the prestigious “Hall of Fame” spot.[5] Since then he has produced in his school a new generation of fighters, such as Manvel Gamburyan, Sako Chivitchian, Neil Melanson, Karen Darabedyan, Roman Mitichyan, Ronda Rousey, and Karo Parisyan, who have competed in the arena of the UFC, WEC, King of the Cage, Olympic and all National Judo Championships.[4][6]

In February 2005, the United States Ju-Jitsu Federation (ISJJF) awarded him the rank of 7th dan in judo.[7]

To the great surprise of many, Chivichyan competed again at the 2008 USJA/USJF Winter Nationals, the first National Judo Championship endorsed by both organizations.[8] He took Gold after defeating Gary Butts by uchi mata in the finals.[9][10]

After many more years away from competition, Gokor competed at the 2019 IBJJF Pan American Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships at the Masters Black Belt level. He defeated former BJJ Black Belt World Champion, V. Oliveira, to take Gold. In August 2019, Gokor again competed at the IBJJF Masters Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Championship, once again defeating all of his opponents to take Gold. He finished the year competing at the SJJIF Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi and No-Gi World Championships in Long Beach, California, taking Gold in both categories. With these victories, Gokor is perhaps the only individual to take Gold medals at elite international competitions in all three of the primary submission grappling arts: Judo, Sambo, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. [11][12] Gokor remains undefeated in competition.

• Official website
• Gokor Chivichyan on IMDb