Southwest Submission Grappling Challenge just around the corner!
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
With just a few more days left to register for the Southwest Submission Grappling Challenge, here are a few reminders.
1) Tapout & OTM will be providing prizes for the advanced division winners and absolute winners.
2) Gumby from OTM will be here filming the event. This is your chance to make it on the famous www.onthemat.com or on a future OTM DVD.
3) There is no registration on the day of the event.
4) There will be weigh-ins all day on Friday, as well as, last minute weigh-ins Saturday morning.
See you on Saturday!
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Last day of Pre-Registration!
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Today is the last day for competitors to register for the Southwest Submission Grappling Challenge for the cheaper pre-registration rate of $55. After July 5th the cost will be $65. Remember that the final day to register will be Friday, July 11th. There will be no registrations accepted on July, 12th, the day of the event.
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Lovato Jr & Rader Results
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Rafael Lovato Jr. won his submission grappling superfight today against top Hawaii MMA fighter, Niko Vitale. This took place in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Pac Sub Tournament. Rafael won by a choke submission. Congrats Jr.!
Justin Rader had a great day as well, taking second place in a stacked lightweight professional submission tournament, in New Jersey. Rader defeated Yamasaki black belt, Dave Jacobs, in the first round. Then he went up against a familiar opponent, Wilson Reis. This match was very intense, with Rader coming out the victor by points. In the finals, Rader went up against 3x world champion, Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles. Rader did very well, losing a close match by only 2 points. We are very proud of Rader. He is still very young and he has a very promising future. Congrats Rader!
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Lovato Jr & Rader in action this weekend!
Monday, June 23, 2008
The two top competitors from Lovato's will be in action this weekend at two different events, at two completely different locations. Rafael Lovato Jr. will be competing at the Pacific Submission Grappling Championships in Hawaii. He will be competing against one of Hawaii's top MMA fighters, Niko Vitale, in a Submission Superfight. Good luck Rafael!
On the mainland, Justin Rader will be competing at the Grappler's Quest US Nationals in New Jersey. Rader will be squaring off against some of the best in the world at his weight in the Lightweight All-Star Pro Challenge. Rader's incredible achievements earned him the chance to compete in this invite only division and we know that he is going to do great. Good luck Rader!
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Online Registration Now Available!
Monday, June 23, 2008
For those who would like to register for the Southwest Submission Grappling Challenge over the internet, you may do so above. You can use a credit card or paypal, but a paypal account is not necessary. Please remember that the early registration deadline is on July 5th, so get registered now! 19 days left until the competition!
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OTM Sponsors Southwest Submission Grappling Challenge!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
OnTheMat.com has confirmed their presence at the Southwest Submission Grappling Challenge on July 12th. Gumby will be in the house filming and writing a report about the tournament for the onthemat web site. Also, special prizes from onthemat will be awarded to some lucky winners. Stay tuned for more updates.
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Rafael Lovato Jr Takes The Silver Medal & Xande Wins Absolute!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Unfortunately, Rafael wasn't able to repeat the history he made last year, but he still preformed great earning the silver medal in the black belt super heavy division. Rafael beat Artur Cesar in the quarter finals and Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu in the semifinals. In the finals Rafael lost to an opponent he has faced before, Antonio Braga Neto from Gordo Jiu-Jitsu. This was the first tournament in nearly 2 years that Rafael didn't win the gold medal, an incredible streak. We are very proud of his hard work. Congrats Jr.!
Rafael's teammate, Xande Ribeiro, was the star of the tournament winning the heavyweight and the absolute division. Xande beat Roger Gracie in the finals of the absolute division. This was the second time Xande won the absolute division and it marked the fourth time he has won his weight division. These titles make Xande the most decorated BJJ competitor ever! Congrats to Xande Ribeiro!
Overall, the Gracie Humaita team showed that they are a force to reckon with, winning second place in the team competition. Congrats to everyone who competed for Gracie Humaita!
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Justin Rader wins the bronze medal!
Sunday, June 08, 2008
2007 Purple Belt World Champion, Justin Rader, did very well at this year's World Championships as a brown belt. Rader won his first 3 matches, 1 of which by submission, and then lost in the semi-finals to Brazilian phenom, Guliherme Mendes. Guliherme and his brother Rafael went on to close out the division and repeat their winning ways. We are very proud of Rader and we know that he will be back on top again soon. Congrats Rader!
That makes two medals for Team Lovato so far. Rafael Lovato Jr. will be competing on Sunday and he will look to repeat his history making accomplishment from last year. Stay tuned for results.
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First 2008 World Championship medal for Team Lovato!
Friday, June 06, 2008
Thursday, June 5th was the start of the 13th World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships. The tournament action began with the white & blue belts. JP Taylor, Chris Watson, Jesse Vaughn, & Shiloh Roberts all did very well today, losing very close matches. They showed a lot of determination and promise, despite competing in the World Championships for the first time. The highlight of the day came from Rob Wood. Rob competed in a stacked, middleweight, blue belt division that fielded nearly 90 competitors. After a long day of matches, Rob made it to the final four before losing in the semi-finals, earning him the bronze medal. We are very happy and proud of Rob for all his hard work. This was Rob's first World Championships and he has been a blue belt for a very short time, we look forward to many great things from this tough competitor.
There is still 3 days left of competition. 2007 World Champion, Justin Rader will be competing on Friday. Stay tuned for results and hopefully more World medals for Team Lovato.
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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships this weekend!
Monday, June 02, 2008
The 13th edition of the World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships takes place this week, beginning on Thursday. Several members of Team Lovato will be competing, including veterans Rafael Lovato Jr. & Justin Rader. The team has trained very hard for the last 6 weeks preparing for this epic event. The Lovato team will be joining forces with the Saulo Ribeiro team, competing for the Gracie Humaita flag. You can read an article about the Gracie Humaita team coming together for the worlds here: http://www.graciemag.com/news/144/ARTICLE/10711/2008-06-01.html
Stay tuned for results.
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OKCDT Judo sponsors Lovato Team for the Worlds!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Friend of Lovato's, OKCDT Judo, ran by Mike Darter, is helping out the Lovato Team in their quest for World Championship gold. Several members of the Lovato team will be making the trip out to Los Angeles, for the World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships June 5th, 6th, 7th, & 8th, and they are very appreciative of the help they have received from OKCDT Judo. Thanks a lot OKCDT.
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NAGA Results!
Monday, May 05, 2008
This past Saturday 7 students of Lovato's competed at the NAGA 2008 Dollamur Grappling Championships, in Dallas, Texas. With 7 competitors the Lovato team won 5 gold medals and 2 bronzes. We are very proud of theses students, congrats!
Bashir - 3rd place white belt
Matt Kendrick - 1st place white belt
Gail - 1st place white belt
Chris Watson - 3rd place blue belt
Dustin Phillips - 1st place blue belt
Jesse Sunderman - 1st place blue belt master
Clay Copeland - 1st place purple belt
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Robert Harper Promoted to Brown Belt!
Monday, April 28, 2008
This past Saturday some students of Lovato's were recognized for their hardwork and received promotions. Kelsey Arbogast, Nina Kirkland, & Steven Jones received their blue belts. Long time student of Lovato's Robert Harper, received his brown belt. Robert has been a huge asset to the school with numerous competition titles and as an instuctor for the Sunday class. We are very proud of these students and we expect many more great things from them. Congratulations!
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Gracie Magazine Interviews Rafael Jr.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Check out this great interview Rafael Jr. did with Gracie Magazine http://www.graciemag.com/news/144/ARTICLE/10233/2008-04-16.html
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Southwest Submission Grappling Challenge Returns!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
After taking a year off in 2007, the Southwest Submission Grappling Challenge will return on July 12th. This tournament is hosted by Rafael Lovato Sr. & Jr. and it will be all no-gi. Look for this to be the biggest and best tournament ever held in Oklahoma. More information will be available soon.
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New Rafael Lovato Jr Interview
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Brazilian web site FightTV, recently did an interview with Rafael Jr. You can check it out here: http://www.fighttv.com.br/dados_entrevistas_clicou.php?id=16. Scroll down to see the English version.
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Rafael Lovato Jr. featured on Podcast about the Pan Ams
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Once again Rafael Lovato Jr was a guest on the fightworks podcast. This time they spoke to Rafael right after he won his finals match at the 2008 Pan-American Championships. Go here to check it out http://www.onthemat.com/articles/Podcast_111_BJJ_PanAms_WrapUp_Training_in_Brazil_04_06_2008.html
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Pan-American Championship Results
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Last weekend the largest Pan-American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships ever took place. Many members from the Lovato team competed and did very well, despite competing for the first time in a major tournament. In the end it was the higher ranking competitors with experience that brought home the medals. Antonio Munoz did great winning the silver medal in his purple belt division, despite being a purple belt for less than a month. Justin Jacobs continued his winning ways, getting the gold medal in his brown belt division. Justin Rader won the silver medal in his brown belt division. Rader cruised through his first 3 opponents, showing a lot of poise and focus. In the finals one mistake cost Rader the match by points, but he showed a lot of heart escaping some tough positions. Fellow Saulo Ribeiro teammate, Matt Jubera, won his brown belt division. Matt did some of his competition training here with Team Lovato and we are very happy for his accomplishment. Rafael Lovato Jr. picked up his third Pan-American title as a black belt and won his heavyweight division. Rafael submitted his first two opponents and had the most exciting match of the weekend in the finals with Roberto Alencar. Rafael got caught in a triangle choke and was stuck there for nearly 4 minutes, before he escaped and won the match in the last minute.
We are very proud of everyone from Team Lovato who competed and did their best. Next will be the World Championships in June. Congratulations Team Lovato/Saulo Ribeiro!
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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Pan-American Championships this weekend!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The 2008 Pan-American BJJ Championships are just a few days away. The Lovato/Saulo Ribeiro team will be making a huge impact at this tournament with one of the largest teams we have ever been able to assemble. The Lovato team will consist of many competitors from blue belt to brown belt and even Rafael Lovato Jr. himself. Everyone has trained very hard and we are looking forward to great results. Rafael has spent the last week in San Diego preparing for this competition with Saulo & Xande Ribeiro. Rafael had a small disappointment, but he is still ready to go this weekend. You can check out an interview with Rafael about the Pan Ams at http://thefightworkspodcast.com.
Stay tuned for results. Good luck to everyone!
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OTM Article about the Grand Opening
Thursday, March 20, 2008
OnTheMat.com was present at our recent grand opening of our new location and they were nice enough to provide some prizes and take part in all the festivities. Gumby wrote an article about his experience and you can check it out here:
Thanks for the continued support OTM!
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Special Visitor
Monday, March 10, 2008
Last weekend, Lovato's School of BJJ had a special visitor come thru town. Sam Y. is a blue belt from Shawn William's Hollywood BJJ Academy. He has been traveling around the country visiting & training at different BJJ schools and documenting his experience. We were happy to have Sam come to Oklahoma City at train with us last Friday & Saturday. Check out what he said about his visit: http://angrygrappler.livejournal.com/
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Lovato BJJ Now on Myspace
Monday, March 10, 2008
Check us out here: http://www.myspace.com/lovatojiujitsu
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Grand Opening is a Huge Success!!!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
This past Saturday, March 1st, marked a new beginning for Lovato's School of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. We celebrated our new home in a beautiful facility with great training and fellowship. The seminar with Xande Ribeiro was excellent and was the largest seminar ever held at Lovato's with 60 participants. We would like to thank all the visitors who came in from out of town to be there and a big thanks to Xande Ribeiro and Gumby, from www.onthemat.com, for their support.
Also, the day started with a few promotions. Congratulations to Shiloh Roberts on his blue belt, and to Paul Coffey & Antonio Munoz for their purple belts. Keep up the great work.
Stay tuned for a complete article about the grand opening at www.onthemat.com.
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Team Lovato Does Great in Dallas!
Monday, February 11, 2008
This past weekend some members of Team Lovato competed at the Winter Wars BJJ tournament in Dallas, Texas. The final results are still coming in, but we would like to congratulate all those who competed, you guys represented us well. Here are some of the results:
Rafael Lovato Jr. - 1st place Black Belt Absolute Justin Rader - 1st place Brown Belt Lightweight & 1st Place Brown Belt Absolute Chris Watson - 2nd place Blue Belt Featherweight Antonio Munoz - 1st place Blue Belt Roosterweight Master Ken Priest - 1st place White Belt Super Heavy Master Nina Kirkland - 3rd place White Belt Female
Many competitors put on great performances despite not placing. Trevor Cowan won 4 matches, but had to pull out of the tournament due to injury. Rob Wood had one of the most exciting matches of the day, going into sudden death before losing by a takedown. Jeremiah White fought hard, getting caught in a triangle in one of his matches for 3 minutes before he finally escaped and submitted his opponent. Antonio Munoz did not have any competition in his master division so he competed with the much younger adults and showed a lot of heart and determination in his matches.
More results, including children coming soon.
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New Lovato Academy Coming Soon!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
We are happy to announce that after many years of hard-work, Lovato's School of BJJ & Vale Tudo will be moving into a top-notch facility. The new academy will be located in the Springdale Shopping Center, located on the corner of NW 50th & Meridian. This will be a huge upgrade with the new facility being more than three times as big as the current location. To kick things off in the new school we will be having a grand opening celebration.
The Grand Opening will be on Saturday, March 1st. Current 3x Heavyweight World BJJ Champion Xande Ribeiro will be conducting a special seminar that day from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm. The famous onthemat.com will be present to write an article about this special event and they will be providing prizes for a raffle that will be after the seminar. OnTheMat will also be presenting Rafael Lovato Jr. & Xande Ribeiro with their Best of 2007 awards. Students are encouraged to bring their family & friends to take part in this special event. We will also be offering a 1/2 off enrollment special for those who join our one of a kind school that day. Please mark you calendars and come celebrate as we start a new journey in our new home. Everyone is invited. See you there!
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Best of 2007 Podcast
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Last year was a great year for the Saulo Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Association, with Rafael & Xande both winning prestigious OnTheMat.com competitor of the year awards. Check out this podcast discussing their achievements.
http://www.onthemat.com/articles/Podcast_99_On_The_Mats_Best_of_2007_01_13_2008.html
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Rafael Lovato Jr. Wins BJJ Competitor of the Year
Saturday, January 05, 2008
The annual OnTheMat.com end of the year awards just wrapped up and we are happy to announce that Rafael Jr. won the BJJ competitor of the year for 2007. Rafael made a lot of history this year and we are pleased that his hard work did not go unrecognized. Congrats Rafael!
More good news. Our good friend Xande Ribeiro, Saulo's brother, won the award for Submission Grappling competitor of the year for 2007. Xande has spent a lot of time here in Oklahoma and he is one of Rafael Jr.'s main training partners, we are very happy for him. Congrats Xande!
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Team Lovato takes 3rd overall in Vegas
Saturday, January 05, 2008
The results are in and Team Lovato took third place overall at the 12th Grappler's Quest West in Las Vegas on Dec. 1st. Everyone competed with a lot of determination and focus, which helped the team of 7 place in the top 3 among the best teams in the West. Congrats!
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Happy Holidays!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Lovato's School wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
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Results from Grapplers Quest in Vegas
Monday, December 3, 2007
Last weekend the Lovato Team put on a great performance at the prestigious Grapplers Quest West tournament in Las Vegas. We are very proud of these competitors for their warrior spirits. Here are the results:
Justin Rader - Advanced No-Gi Champion, Brown Belt Champion
Zach Adamson - Purple Belt Champion
Rob Wood - Intermediate No-Gi Champion, 2nd Place Blue Belt
Trevor Cowan - Intermediate No-Gi Champion, 2nd Place Blue Belt
Chris Watson - 2nd Place Beginner No-Gi
Shiloh Roberts - 2nd Place White Belt
Kelsey Arbogast - 2nd Place Beginner No-Gi
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Rafael Jr. to compete in the Super Challenge Grappling Event
Thursday, November 15, 2007
On December 8th, in Sao Paulo, Brazil 16 of the greatest grapplers around the world will compete in an absolute weight tournament. The tournament will have many champions from around the world competing under modified rules highlighting the submission. Rafael has been confirmed for this event as well as his training partner and teammate Xande Ribeiro. To read more about this event check here:
http://www.graciemag.com/news/144/ARTICLE/8650/2007-11-14.html
http://www.adcombat.com/Article.asp?Article_ID=14286
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Saulo Seminar A Success/Justin Rader Promoted
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Yesterday, 6 time World BJJ Champion Saulo Ribeiro conducted a seminar at Lovato''s. Saulo showed a lot of excellent techniques and really took the time to help everyone. To start the seminar Rafael Sr. & Jr. promoted Justin Rader to brown belt. Justin has worked very hard and definitely deserved his new belt. Congrats.
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Rafael Lovato Jr. Highlight Video
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Check out this awesome highlight video of Rafael Jr. including competition footage since he received his black belt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJzxLCCgJ8M
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Rafael Lovato Jr. Joins OTM Forums
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Rafael Lovato Jr. recently joined the onthemat.com forums for those that would like to get his advice regarding anything pertaining to BJJ.
Click on this link to check out a small interview of Rafael and to join the OTM forums: http://www.onthemat.com/articles/Rafael_Lovato_Jr_Joins_OTM_Forums_11_01_2007.html
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