# Tarik Hopstock > Black Belt ## Overview **Name:** Tarik Hopstock **Belt Rank:** Black Belt ## Bio Tarik Hopstock was born on May 10, 1996, in Oslo, Norway. Tarik’s first attempt at martial arts came through judo, an activity he practiced during his tweens at a local club. Although the experience was highly positive, his gym only offered one (1) judo class per week, a scarce schedule that did not satiate Hopstock’s training needs. While looking for another workgroup that offered a busier timetable, Tarik was invited by a friend to come and visit the Frontline Academy, an offer accepted by the young Norwegian. At the Frontline Academy, Tarik discovered jiu-jitsu and met the team’s leader, Eduardo Rios (Teta) – one of the most charismatic and knowledgeable coaches on the European Continent – whose relationship with Hopstock is often mentioned by Tarik as a deciding factor in his sporting success. As a juvenile athlete, Tarik started showing signs of his potential in the local circuit. Noticing Hopstock’s qualities, coach Rios pushed his student to attend the adult classes, a decision that helped Tarik’s growth tremendously. It was also the added hardship of practicing with his adult teammates that helped Hopstock develop one of his most celebrated creations – the Tarikoplata – a modified shoulder lock ( check more details about this position here ). In an interview given to BJJ Heroes back in September 2020, Tarik Hopstock said of the Tarikoplata ‘s inception: “ It started with how I struggled to pull people’s arms out from the top kimura position. This was around 2014. So, one day after class I was trying to solve the problem with some of my teammates. A lot of the times I would try to almost deadlift the arm out or just go back to the D’Arce choke. My thought was that there had to be some technical way to advance with attacking the arm. After some trial and error I ended up passing the leg over my partner’s hip line, but we were all skeptical about the move at the time. We thought it was too risky turning your back to the opponent. Later I started to recognize the position for the bottom and had successfully applied it to my game. We didn’t even call it Tarikoplata until I had gotten it numerous times in competitions. ” The talent displayed during his juvenile grappling career only improved as Tarik moved on to the adult division. After numerous medals in the sport’s top events, and wins over many high-level competitors, Hopstock was promoted to black belt by his long-time instructor, Eduardo Rios, in a ceremony that took place on December 05, 2021. ABOUT TARIK HOPSTOCK’S GRAPPLING RECORD Although Tarik made his black belt debut on February 2022, at the European Open, the Norwegian grappler had competed in previous years, as a brown belt, in a few of the sport’s top pro-circuit events, namely in Polaris & Copa Pódio. Although BJJ Heroes traditionally only accounts for adult black belt matches (the main division in our sport), we believed these previous matches were landmarks in Hopstock’s career and worth including in his record. ## Gym Affiliations - **Arma** (London, United Kingdom) — Instructor --- **Last Updated:** March 21, 2026 **Data Source:** BJJ.Space (https://bjj.space/people/tarik-hopstock-2a28b483af2d)