Rafael Lovato Jr.

Rafael Lovato Jr., born in 1983 in Cincinnati and raised in Oklahoma City, is an American retired mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor. The son of a Jeet Kune Do instructor, he boxed as an amateur and found jiu-jitsu at thirteen. He was the first non-Brazilian to win the Brasileiros at black belt and, in 2007, the first person to win the black belt Grand Slam of the major competitions in a single year: the Pan Championship, European Championship, Brasileiro and World Championship. A black belt under Carlos Machado, he later became Bellator MMA Middleweight World Champion before retiring from MMA for medical reasons and returning to grappling. He runs his own academy in Oklahoma City.