LONG BEACH, Calif. — There's a fire inside of Eduardo Alves de Inojosa that cannot be extinguished.

The 38-year-old lead coach at North Idaho Jiu-Jitsu, after a two-year hiatus from the sport, recently won the International Master North American Jiu-Jitsu Championship held Wednesday, May 28 at The Walter Pyramid, a pyramid-shaped indoor arena on the campus of Long Beach State University.

Inojosa, representing Six Blades Jiu-Jitsu, won the Master 2 Black Belt Super-Heavy (222 pounds) division, even despite troubles with a bad back. The night before the national tournament, he was hesitant about whether or not he was even going to be able to make the trip.

"I thought there was no way I was going to win," Inojosa said in an interview with the Daily Bee, thanks to the help of Portuguese translator Isolda Hartmann. "I said I was just going to go because I already had my ticket and everything."

The win made him feel alive again.

"After not competing for two years, that competitive fire decreases," Inojosa said. "But once I won again, despite lacking confidence heading into the competition, that flame came up, and now it's non-stop."

Inojosa said all of his inspiration comes from God, and after reigniting the flame that is his love for jiu-jitsu, he wants to continue on with the sport for as long as his body allows him to.

Inojosa has been practicing Jiu-Jitsu since he was 13 years old when a friend introduced it to him in his hometown of Manaus, Brazil, the capital in the country's state of Amazonas. He made his way to Sandpoint, in what seemed like an instance of fate, in May of 2023. While teaching Jiu-Jitsu lessons in Brazil, a tourist from Sandpoint invited him to check out the area. Inojosa happened to be participating in a competition in Miami a short while after and Chris, the tourist from Sandpoint, paid for his plane ticket to come visit for two weeks post-competition — once Inojosa visited Sandpoint, he said he knew immediately he wanted to make it his home.

It's a great place to raise a family," Inojosa, who has a wife and two kids, said of Sandpoint. "I had no idea what it would be like — I came in the dark. When I came here alone for the first time, I knew it's where I wanted to live, and things just came together."

After two years in Sandpoint, in addition to Jiu-Jitsu, he now loves snowboarding, fishing, barbequing at City Beach, and several other outdoor activities the area has to offer.

A fourth-degree black belt, Inojosa has a storied career in the international Jiu-Jitsu scene. Most notably, he won the IBJJF Brazilian Championship as a purple belt in 2007, was runner-up as a black belt in 2015, and was a champion at the Brazilian Team Championship in 2017. In addition, he stood out at the Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu Grand Slam World Tours in 2021 and 2022. He's slated to compete in three more competitions this summer — one in Austin in July, and one each in both Las Vegas and Brazil in August. 

Inojosa, still coaching and training about four days a week while adapting to life in North Idaho, said he is focused on sharing his love for the sport with others and teaching the area's youth for years to come.