One of the greatest revelations in world Jiu-Jitsu, in 2008, weighing only 70kg and only 19 years of age, Rafael Mendes has been pointed out by GRACIEMAG as a future star since his days as a purple belt. In an exclusive interview, the Ramon Lemos student evaluated his year 2008, made predictions for 2009 and, of course, commented on his loss to Rubens Cobrinha in Jordan, when the Alliance star passed his guard and rallied back to win by 5 to 2, in a riveting fight. Check it out:
You have been showing impressive maturity since becoming a black belt. How do you feel 2008 turned out and what are your expectations for 2009?
Yes, thank God I had a great campaign; I came in with a lot of will and showed it. This year I won the Worlds, the No-Gi Worlds and an event in Japan at brown belt. I went back to Brazil, got my black belt from my teacher Ramon and debuted at the qualifiers, won the trials to fight in Abu Dhabi, won the Asian Cup and only lost in the final at Capital Challenge by points. I’m happy, I made some mistakes, but I’ll fix them and go into 2009 at full blast.
You broke through to the Jiu-Jitsu world as runner-up at the ADCC 2007 qualifiers, when Bruno Frazatto, now your teammate, managed to pass your guard in a great fight. Now, with the loss to Cobrinha, the final was similar, and your expression was very much like the serious one you wore after the qualifiers. What have you learned from these fights?
You learn more from defeat than from victory, because wins cause you to celebrate and think the mistakes made were not enough to harm you. Now in defeat you analyze ever second and it makes you reflect more. I learned a lot with this fight (against Cobrinha), and I think making it to black belt, and after a little over a month beat the guys I’ve beat, is gratifying. I fought in three events with brackets that looked like the brackets at the Worlds, and I lost a fight, a single fight by points. But of course I was not satisfied, I didn’t go there to be content with second place. Second is fine for one who accepts that, and I know I can be first.
Is Cobrinha these days really unbeatable? What did you make of him during the fight?
I felt he’s good, something I already knew: he’s not winning everything for nothing. He is going through an excellent phase and I just got here. Regardless of the result, satisfied or not, I had a good fight. But unbeatable or not able to be overcome I don’t think anyone is, everyone’s made of flesh and bone. The experience, and the confidence from it, made the difference. I’m going to carry on with my work. I congratulate him.
What are your upcoming obstacles in 2009?
I think I fought some of the best lightweights already, and in 2009 there’s more to come. I’m not going to think of anyone in particular, my focus is on becoming lightweight champion and not beating any particular person. I’m going to train to be ready for anything.
In January the team (Atos Jiu-Jitsu) will get together and we’ll see what events we’ll be fighting in, but we’ll all probably dispute the ADCC 2009 qualifiers, and the European too. But we’ll decide on that together.
With the Abu Dhabi title and runner-up at Capital Challenge, do you take the lead as “best in the family,” or do you think your brother Guilherme will catch up?
Between us there’s no competitiveness do see who is better, I think if he had been in the events he would have had a great chance to do what I did.
Where did the name of the new team, Atos, come from?
Truth is Brasa split up and my teacher followed Leo Vieira, but the opportunity to start his own team came up, and he and Andre Galvao now lead the team together. He always wanted to do it and the time came. The name Atos has a double meaning, we want to show our work through our deeds (“atos” in Portuguese) to show quality is better than to show quantity, and Atos is also a book in the bible.
