Após ganhar o absoluto roxa e conquistar a faixa nova no pódio, o filho de Ryan se jogou com tudo no Oklahoma City Open da IBJJF, realizado nos dias 5 e 6 de fevereiro.

Em conversa com nossa equipe, Rayron disse não estar muito ansioso por um convite do ADCC 2022. Por um motivo: “Quero mesmo é pensar em meu jogo com kimono por enquanto”.

Confira a frieza de Rayron com sua guarda fechada, na final do absoluto em Oklahoma, contra a fera Rafa Silva. Oss!

Rogério Minotouro em ação no UFC. Foto: UFC/Divulgação

Minotouro (22v, 8d), que estreou no UFC em 2009 com nocaute sobre Luiz “Banha” Cane no UFC 106, vem de três derrotas em quatro duelos, mas tem no seu boxe uma grande arma para dar-lhe a vantagem para superar seu adversário.

Já Lafiti (12v, 8d) estreou no UFC ao substituir o companheiro de treinos Alexander Gustafsson no UFC Suécia de 2013, no qual foi superado por Gegard Mousasi. Antes de sua derrota para Ryan Bader, o atleta vinha de três vitórias seguidas contra Gian Villante, Sean O’Connell e Hans Stringer.

O UFC não confirmou qual será a luta principal da noite, por hora. Outros duelos anunciados para o card são BJ Penn x Dennis Siver, Johny Hendricks x Tim Boetsch, Felice Herrig x Justine Kish e Josh Stansbury x Jeremy Kimball.

E para você, amigo leitor, Rogério Minotouro tem as armas necessárias para superar Latifi? Comente conosco!

This past weekend was a record breaker in women’s BJJ events. The Girls in Gi group run by Shama Ko organized two events; one in Texas, at Revolution Dojo, which was taught by guest instructor Veronica Mota-Messina; and the other event in Oklahoma, at Triton Fight Center. Black belt Gina Franssen and purple belts Jessica Champion-Linnabery and Janie Meadows were the guest instructors who shared their knowledge amongst the ladies.

This was probably the biggest weekend for women’s Jiu-Jitsu in history, with 165 women attending the Oklahoma event and 60 women attending the Texas event ,which made headlines in the news! It is great to see the impact these all-woman BJJ groups are having on the sport and the difference they are making in women’s lives.

O novo campeão dos galos Marco Loro finalizou nesta sexta-feira no Bellator 135. Foto: Eric Coleman/ Bellator

Joe Warren (12v, 4d) pode até ser o “Homem mais malvado do planeta”, como o apelidam, mas contra o Jiu-Jitsu ninguém pode. Na disputa do cinturão dos galos, o faixa-preta Marcos “Loro” Galvão (17v, 6d, 1e) provou seu valor ontem, no Bellator 135, em Thackerville, Oklahoma, e finalizou o confere no segundo assalto, com uma chave de joelho que fez o malvado berrar.

A disputa foi um reencontro após luta controversa, realizada em 2011, no Bellator 41, quando Warren venceu por decisão dividida. Desta vez, não houve dúvidas sobre quem foi melhor.

Galvão começou sendo quedado no primeiro assalto, mas no segundo, aos 45 segundos, encaixou o golpe que fez Warren gritar de dor. Prontamente, o juiz John McCarthy interrompeu, indicando a vitória do amazonense por desistência verbal.

No coevento da noite, LC Davis fez grande luta com o experiente japonês Hideo Tokoro, e venceu por decisão dividida após troca insana de golpes em pé e boa movimentação no solo. No peso meio-pesado, o ex-UFC Francis Carmont venceu o brasileiro Guilherme Viana por decisão. Guilherme quase virou a luta e pegou o pescoço de Carmont, mas não conseguiu o xeque-mate.

Filho do homem, Ryan Couture (10v, 3d) finalizou rapidamente Dakota Cochrane, no sempre famigerado mata-leão.

Veja os resultados completos, aqui.

Rafael Lovato Jr. of GMA Lovato’s School of BJJ & MMA in Oklahoma City, OK will be touring a bit to teach his competition-tested moves to the masses.

On Sunday, March 1 he will be visiting his affiliate Salem-Keizer BJJ in Salem, OR. The seminar will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The location is 4122 River Road N, Keizer, OR.
You can register ahead of time here.

On Thursday, March 5 GMA Savarese Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Lyndhurst, NJ will host Lovato. That seminar will run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The location is 40 Park Ave, Lyndhurst, NJ 07071.

And finally he will visit Wichita Jiu-Jitsu Club in Wichita, KS to run a seminar from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. The location is 3013 W. Central, Wichita, KS 67203.

If you’re in the area or not, don’t miss these opportunities! Check out more about Lovato and his academy at www.okbjj.com

Once your guard is passed and your opponent has full control, trap their arm like an armbar and roll. Sit through, and even have the chance to submit from this position.

Piet explains in this video below:

Check out Triton Fight Center at www.tritonfightcenter.com

On Saturday, Dec. 6 Renato Tavares traveled to his affiliate academy Triton Fight Center in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma for his yearly seminar.

The event gathered a whopping 130 students together. Seventeen of them were black belts including Triton Fight Center head instructor Piet Wilhelm, Renato Tavares himself, James Foster of GMA Foster BJJ in Seattle, WA, Mike Budnik, Gina Franssen and others. During the seminar Renato taught various back-takes.

Along with the seminar came the belt ceremony. In all, there were over twenty promotions for those who were deserving of new belt ranks.

As part of the twenty, three special promotions came in the form of black belts to Reed Haji, Tim Holman and Omar French.

Omar was amazed and although super cool he says it was also super scary. “It was amazing! Not so much for getting the rank but because your instructors trust you to represent them. It was insane amazing.”

Learn more about GMA Triton Fight Center at www.tritonfightcenter.com

The team welcomed Sensei Saulo Ribeiro to visit and to be honored in a celebration for the team. In this video captured at the event. Rafael gives an emotional speech about the time he first came face-to-face with Saulo.

Watch the video to see what it was that made it the best day of his Jiu-Jitsu life:

Learn more about Rafael Lovato Jr. and GMA Lovato’s School of BJJ & MMA at www.okbjj.com

In August of 2004, shortly after turning 21, Rafael became the youngest ever known American to receive a black belt. In 2007, Rafael earned the award of BJJ competitor of the year for being the first person ever to win the European Open, Pan-American, Brazilian National and World Championship at the black belt all in the same year.

Rafael just signed up for the 2014 Worlds, which takes place next weekend, starting May 28th, in Long Beach, California. On Instagram, he posted a picture of his registration to this tournament and said: ” It’s on! My 15th World Championship and 9th as a black belt! Can’t wait!”

In this video, listen to the voice of experience as Rafael Lovato Jr. teaches a step over triangle from side control.

Check it out!

Justin Rader com Rafael Lovato e equipe, no cercado de MMA do BattleGrounds 3. Foto: Arquivo Pessoal

Faixa-preta de Rafael Lovato Jr, o americano Justin Rader foi mais um campeão de Jiu-Jitsu a fazer bonito em sua estreia no MMA, nesse sábado, 18 de janeiro.

Rader, que competira no ADCC 2013, em outubro em Pequim, manteve o embalo sem kimono e não deu chances para seu oponente, finalizando sua luta no fim do primeiro assalto, com um katagatame, em duelo válido pelo BattleGrounds MMA 3. A organização é promovida pelo ex-lutador Kenny Monday e o ex-executivo do Strikeforce Rich Chou.

“Foi uma grande experiência, o Justin demonstrou ótima postura diante de um adversário ardiloso [o também estreante Gary Galloway]”, comentou seu professor, Rafael Lovato Jr.

O evento, realizado em Norman, Oklahoma, ainda teve Ryan Couture contra Kyle Sjafiroeddin na luta principal. O filho da lenda Randy Couture também venceu seu compromisso, o primeiro após ser desligado do UFC, onde acumulou duas derrotas.

Rader at the 2013 ADCC in Beijing, China. Photo: Erin Herle

A black belt under Rafael Lovato Jr., Justin Rader has been at the top of the podium of many tournaments. In the past six months alone he placed third at the 2013 ADCC in Beijing, China and won the gold at the 2013 No-Gi World Championship. Even before, taking home those medals he had decided to move away from Jiu-Jitsu tournaments to focus on an MMA career. Some setbacks in his first match-ups caused him to spend a little more time on the mats, which paid off.

Tomorrow, Saturday Jan. 18 will be his official MMA debut in the BattleGrounds MMA 3 event in Norman, OK at the Riverwind Casino.

We touched base with Justin to learn about his approach to MMA and how it differs from Jiu-Jitsu:

 GRACIEMAG: How have you been training differently for your MMA debut compared to Jiu-Jitsu tournaments?

JUSTIN RADER: The training has been much different getting ready for my MMA debut compared to my normal training routine for Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. I wrestled from elementary school through high school, and I have been practicing and actively competing in Jiu-Jitsu tournaments for the past fifteen years, always pushing and competing at the highest level possible in those sports. I spent much of the better part of 2013 practicing my stand-up, which I felt was the part of the game I really lacked. I also started sparring much more as opposed to just striking mitts, and I found early on that it’s different and that it was also a different sort of conditioning. When I started, I used to get so tired, but now I feel well conditioned. Professor Rafael Lovato Jr.’s father, Professor Rafael Lovato Sr., has been my main trainer in my stand-up game. And recently, Kru Mark Beecher became our new muay thai instructor here at Lovato’s School of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts, and he’s been the muay thai coach for many UFC fighters and has been a huge help as well with the pointers he has been able to give me to get me ready. With coaches like Professor Rafael Sr., Kru Mark Beecher, and Professor Rafael Lovato Jr. influencing my jiu-jitsu game for MMA, I feel I have an excellent set of well-rounded coaches that will be able to get me ready for anything and everything, and that really provides me with a lot of confidence. I’ve also been working closely with my strength and conditioning coach Luke Tirey, and he’s got me feeling in amazing shape once again. I believe in myself, I believe in my coaches, I believe in my training, and I’m feeling ready! And I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

You have great results in both gi and no-gi but your strengths have definitely been in no-gi. What are some of your “A-game” techniques that you’re able to apply to the MMA cage?

The more that I began training and sparring MMA, putting it all together, I found even on the ground things were a lot more different than I thought at first. Not just the fact that punches are being thrown and being used to set up progression of position and submissions, but the gloves and their thickness also made things different. Some of my favorite submissions, like the guillotine, I found I had to modify slightly and were easier for opponents to defend against because of the thickness of the gloves. I have been working very close with Professor Rafael Lovato Jr. though, and we have made many tweaks to both my Jiu-Jitsu game and submissions to make as smooth a transition to MMA as possible. He’s been a huge help in that way. It’s hard to say what my “A-game” submissions are yet because I have not yet fought, but I really like the head-and-arm choke, RNC, and guillotine choke.

 What are goals for your future in MMA?

My goals for MMA are the same as they were for Jiu-Jitsu. I want to take it as far as I can. I have no idea as of quite yet how I will respond, or if I’ll be any good. I’ll give it a good run, and if I really feel I improve and get better with each experience, I’ll keep taking it to the next level. I want to be smart about it too, and not think I can bite off more than I can chew at the beginning. I’ve had successes in both wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu, but MMA is different, especially now with so many being so well-rounded. So we’ll see how far I can take it, and if I feel I’ve given it a good run and it’s not going anywhere, then at least I’ll never have to look back and wonder “what-if.” That I gave it my best shot. I’m looking forward to it though, and I’m excited for something a little different!

At this point in time, I won’t say I’ve quite left Jiu-Jitsu competitions yet either! Perhaps you’ll see me on the scene again at some point this year too!

So be sure to follow me at: www.facebook.com/DarthRader86, on twitter and Instagram @darthrader86! Big thank you to my sponsors as well: OnTheMat, Lucky Gi, Lucius Tirey, and Pr2 Systems

Follow Rader’s progression as well as the other champions at GMA Lovato’s School of BJJ and MMA by going to www.okbjj.com

GMA member James Foster of Foster BJJ in Kent, WA will be at GMA Triton Fight Center on Saturday, Feb. 8 for a seminar. Set for 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., the active competitor black belt will be teaching his competition-tested techniques.

Triton Fight Center is located at: 2205 N Willow Ave. Broken Arrow, OK 74012.

The cost is $65 per person. To reserve your spot, call 918-252-4653