Rafael Lovato Jr.

Rafael Lovato Jr. (born June 25, 1983) is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor and undefeated former mixed martial artist.

At the time of his original retirement, he was the Bellator MMA Middleweight World Champion and was ranked the no. 4 middleweight fighter in the world.

He was the first non-Brazilian to win Brasileiros at black belt.

Rafael has had a long and formative training history with Xande and Saulo Ribeiro, one which began after he competed against Saulo in the finals of the 2003 Arnold Classic, when Rafael was just 19 years old.

Lovato currently manages his own academy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In 2007, he was the first person ever to win the black belt "Grand Slam" of all major Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions in a single year: Pan Championship, European Championship, Brasileiro, and World Championship.

Lovato was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but his family moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, when he was eight years old.

The son of a Jeet Kune Do instructor, Lovato studied a variety of martial arts in his youth and competed in amateur boxing before discovering Brazilian jiu-jitsu at age 13.

He is of Spanish and Italian descent.

Lovato was the second American, after B.J. Penn, to win the World Jiu Jitsu Championship as a black belt.

Lovato is a black belt under Carlos Machado, the oldest of the Machado family.

Lovato made his professional MMA debut on September 26, 2014, at LFA 35, against Canaan Grigsby.

He won the fight by an arm-triangle choke at the end of the first round.

His next fight came at LFA 46, against the future UFC middleweight contender Kevin Holland.

Lovato Jr. won the fight by a rear naked choke, 84 seconds into the first round.

After these two victories, Lovato Jr. was scheduled to fight Marcelo Nunes at LFA 54, for the Middleweight title.

After retiring from MMA due to medical issues, Lovato Jr. made a return to competing in BJJ, starting out by unsuccessfully challenging Aaron 'Tex' Johnson for the Fight 2 Win Light-Heavyweight Masters Championship at F2W 151 on September 11, 2020.

Lovato Jr. competed again shortly after at BJJ Stars 4 on November 14, 2020, where he was submitted with a crucifix choke by Dimitrious Souza.

He also competed at the IBJJF Masters World Championships 2020, claiming silver in the absolute division after a close final match with Gregor Gracie.

He returned to Fight 2 Win for F2W 166 on March 13, 2021, to compete against Gabriel Almeida in the main event, submitting him with a kimura.

On April 30, 2021, Lovato Jr. headlined a Who's Number One event against Gilbert Burns, losing the match by unanimous decision.

Lovato Jr. returned to headline another Fight 2 Win event at F2W 177 on July 16, 2021, where he defeated Alexandro Ceconi by unanimous decision to win the promotion's Light-Heavyweight no gi title.

He defended his light-heavyweight no gi title at F2W 180 on August 6, 2021, defeating Gabriel Arges by unanimous decision.

He then competed at Raw Grappling 1 on November 14, 2021, against Adam Wardzinski, defeating him by penalty points.

In his final matches of 2021, Lovato Jr. represented Team LFA at UFC FightPass Invitational 1.

Team LFA won the tournament, with Lovato Jr. submitting Mike Wilcox with a rear-naked choke and registering two draws against Jonathan Piersma and Travis Tooke.

Lovato Jr. had also verbally agreed to compete against the reigning ADCC World Champion Gordon Ryan at some point in 2021.

After the match did not come to fruition, Lovato Jr won the 2022 IBJJF European Open and competed in that year's world championships, retiring from IBJJF competition on the mats after his final match.

He competed at the ADCC World Championships in 2022 and finished fourth in the under 99 kg division, announcing his retirement from that competition at the same time.

Lovato Jr. was booked to compete in the co-main event of Who's Number One 18 on May 18, 2023, against Elder Cruz.

Lovato Jr won the match, submitting Cruz with a rear-naked choke.

Lovato Jr. competed at the IBJJF Master World Championship on September 2, 2023, where he won the master 1 super-heavyweight division.

Lovato Jr. was then invited to challenge Pedro Marinho for the WNO light-heavyweight title at Who's Number One 20: Night of Champions on October 1, 2023.

Marinho withdrew from the match due to injury and was replaced by Ricardo Evangelista, with the match being changed to a non-title bout.

Lovato Jr. won the match by submission.

The match between Lovato Jr. and Pedro Marinho for the WNO light-heavyweight title was then rescheduled for Who's Number One 21: Ryan v Barbosa on November 30, 2023.

After Gordon Ryan withdrew from the event, Lovato Jr. vs Pedro Marinho was promoted to the main event.

Lovato Jr. lost the match by judge's decision.

Lovato Jr. competed against Craig Jones in the main event of UFC Fight Pass Invitational 6 on March 3, 2024.

He lost the match by submission.