SAN ANTONIO, Texas — OTM and Lucky Gi sponsored fighter Rafael Lovato Jr. won his -202 kg black belt weight class and the Absolute black belt division at the 2011 Abu Dhabi World Pro Trials, which took place this weekend at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
This achievement means Lovato Jr. will be going back to Abu Dhabi, UAE again in 2012. Throughout the course of the day, Lovato Jr. won all 5 of his matches, which included 3 submission victories. The submissions Lovato Jr. used in his repertoire to win on the day, included an Armbar, Rear Naked Choke, and X-Choke from mount.
Two of his noteworthy victories came over the likes of Ricardo Bastos (Nova União) and Jimmy Harbison (Team Lloyd Irvin) via points. More impressively, Lovato Jr. was never scored on throughout the course of the day. Along with adding yet another prestigious title to his ever-expanding trophy case, Lovato Jr. also won an all expenses paid trip to the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship next year.
This caps off an impressive fall season for Lovato Jr. At the end of September, Lovato Jr. advanced to Day 2 of the biennial 2011 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in Nottingham, England, UK by submitting South Korea’s Jeon Doo Kwang via Rear Naked Choke and former Oklahoma State wrestling star Kyle Griffin via Triangle Choke. Griffin is the younger brother of UFC star Tyson Griffin.
In October, Lovato Jr. continued his impressive form by defeating Ricardo Bastos’ brother Bruno Bastos in a Super Fight at the UFC Fan Expo in Houston, Texas. Then earlier this month, Lovato Jr. defeated former ADCC world champion Pablo Popovitch en route to winning the 2011 World Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship in Long Beach, California. Congrats to Rafael Lovato Jr. and good luck next year at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.