Tommy Langaker - Best Middleweight BJJ Competitor

Langaker was born in Haugesund City, Norway, on February 8, 1994. Langaker is the best middleweight BJJ competitor, who has won various international championships in his weight division. Langaker started his BJJ career in his hometown in Norway, then traveled around the world to compete in international championships. He later moved back to Norway to continue his BJJ journey in his hometown.  

Langaker grew up in Haugesund, Norway. Being a Scandinavian child, he was familiar with Japanese Jiu-Jitsu from childhood.

At the age of 11, Langaker started his martial arts journey with Japanese Jiu-Jitsu. In the early 2000s, traditional Jiu-Jitsu was a very famous combat sport in Scandinavia. After Langaker discovered the sport, he developed an instant liking for it and trained extensively for almost six years.

At the age of 17, Langaker’s friend, who already trained in BJJ,  introduced him to the gentle art. At that time, Langaker was fed up with the traditional Jiu-Jitsu and wanted to experience something new. The invitation to try out BJJ came at just the right time. He finally got the opportunity to practice a martial art that he enjoyed and could prosper in. After taking his first class in BJJ, he immediately felt a strong connection with the sport.

Langaker began his BJJ career with Luis Alberto Armas, a Peru National, and a BJJ purple belt at that time. He had an affiliation with Luiz Guigo, and even though he wasn’t a brown or a black belt, he still managed to leave a lasting imprint on Langaker’s competitive journey. 

After starting his competitive journey, Langaker began to travel the world to compete in prestigious events. Langaker made a like-minded and good friend named Espan Mathiesen during his travels. Mathiesen was also a Norwegian grappler and later played a pivotal role in Langaker’s black belt journey.

As Langaker and Mathiesen shared the same interest in BJJ, they decided to go to the United States at the end of 2014 to continue their jiu-jitsu journey. After moving to California, they decided to join the Art Of Jiu-Jitsu (AOJ) Academy. Affiliation with this academy enhanced Langaker’s goals further, and he resolved to be a professional grappler, working to finance his BJJ training and cover his other expenses.   

In 2015, Langaker got promoted to the brown belt by Mendes Brothers. He competed in various IBJJF tournaments as a brown belt and won gold medals in the IBJJF Pan Championship and IBJJF European Open Championship.

Langaker also worked as a part-time carpenter to meet his expenses and pay bills. However, by 2015, he decided to leave this job and focus all of his energies and time on his BJJ professional career.

After being promoted to the brown belt level, Langaker moved back to his hometown in Norway, as he wanted a promising future for his grappling career. After moving to Norway, he joined Kimura/Nova Uniao, one of the best BJJ teams in Europe, under the instructorship of Jose Carlos. 

In June 2017, Jose Carlos promoted Lanagaker to the black belt level. As a black belt, Langaker competed in various international BJJ championships and won medals in his weight division. Langaker’s most notable achievement as a black belt was his remarkable victory at the IBJJF European Open.

Langaker decided to fight at the ONE championship after becoming a successful grappler. In August 2022, Langker fought and won for the first time in the ONE championship, defeating Renato Canuto. After that victory, Langaker competed again in February 2023, challenging a formidable grappler, Uali Kurzhev, and winning with a heel hook submission. In June 2023, Langaker challenged an unbeatable grappler, Kade Ruotolo, in the ONE Fight Night 11. Unfortunately, Langaker lost the bout to Kade Ruotolo.

In 2020,  Langaker, and his BJJ partners Espen Mathiesen, Vegard Randeberg, and Kenneth Vikse,  founded an online martial arts academy in Norway. The academy offers instructional videos in Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, and Wrestling. Langaker is a head instructor at Wulfing Academy. 

Langaker faced Jaime Canuto at the 2021 IBJJF World Championship in the black belt middleweight division. After just two minutes of the fight, Langaker defeated Canuto with an excellent triangle technique and won the match.

Tommy Langaker competed with Ronaldo Junior at the 2020 IBJJF European Championship in the black belt middleweight division. After a quick and competitive match, Langaker defeated Ronaldo Junior and won the fight using his excellent triangle technique.

Tommy Langaker faced Tarik Hopstock at the 2022 IBJJF World Championship in the black belt middleweight division. Langaker scored the first two points by escaping Hopstock’s choke technique. Then Hopstock scored two points by taking down Langaker using leg entanglement. However, immediately after that, Lanagker reversed Hopstock’s technique and scored two points. Hopstock scored another two points using the leg-lock position and taking down Langaker. Finally, Langaker scored another four points with the takedown technique and won the match.

Andy Murasaki v Tommy Langaker / World Championship 2022

Isaque Bahiense vs Tommy Langaker / World Championship 2018

RAZOR-CLOSE Grappling Showdown 🔥 Kade Ruotolo vs. Tommy Langaker

Photo Credit: @langakerbjj