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
|
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!
|
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
|
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.
|
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.
|
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
|
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!
|
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!
|
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!
|
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/
|
Lovato BJJ Now on Myspace
Monday, March 10, 2008
Check us out here: http://www.myspace.com/lovatojiujitsu
|
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.
|
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.
|
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!
|
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
|
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!
|
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!
|
Happy Holidays!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Lovato's School wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
|
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
|
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
|
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.
|
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
|
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
|