Rafael Lovato Jr.

In 2007 Rafael Lovato Jr. joined the small group of American black belt world champions, a list BJ Penn had started seven years earlier. At the first Worlds held in the United States, in Long Beach, he beat Bruno Paulista in the ultra-heavyweight semifinal and Luis Felipe Theodoro in the final on the referees’ decision, representing Gracie Humaitá. That same year he also won the Pans, the Europeans and the Brazilian Nationals.

Born on June 25, 1983, in Cincinnati, he grew up in Oklahoma City. He received his black belt from Carlos Machado in August 2004, at 21, and from 2005 he trained with Saulo and Xande Ribeiro. Of the 77 submissions on his record, the most frequent are armbars, rear-naked chokes and kimuras.

At the Worlds he took silver in 2008, losing the super-heavyweight final to Braga Neto, and won six straight bronzes from 2009 to 2014. In 2010 he beat Roberto Tussa in the heavyweight final at the No-Gi Worlds and celebrated: “Now I can say, ‘I’m the only American to win both the Gi and No-Gi World Championships.’”

In MMA he went 11-0. He won the Bellator middleweight title in June 2019 against Gegard Mousasi and gave it up in early 2020 after disclosing a cerebral cavernoma that led athletic commissions not to clear him to fight. He returned to jiu-jitsu, took silver at ADCC 2024 under 99 kg at 41, and in 2025 beat Giancarlo Bodoni at ONE 173 in Tokyo. He runs Lovato Jiu-Jitsu in Oklahoma City.