Rafael: I started judo when I was four years old. I have always loved judo as a child. As a teenager, I started a different martial art every six months. My friends were already doing brazilian jiu jitsu and we’d grapple for fun every opportunity we had. I had the old mentality that I needed to be a striker and knock people out. So I feel as if I lost two years of my life avoiding what would eventually become the love of my life. So when I moved to Brasilia , the capital of Brazil. I decided to give brazilian jiu jitsu a shot , Professor Jucao just moved to town and I was his first student.

Rafael: This month makes twenty years of BJJ, and April 10th, 8 years as a black belt ! I am a fighter. You can ask all my childhood friends and professor. I hated warm ups and positions. My thing was going to class and roll for hours. I fought every event they had in Brasilia, training, not training or hurt. Professor Jucao always told everybody, “Rafael is different; he does not train and wins. That does not work for you, keep drilling”. It’s funny because that kind of life style and training method caught up with me as a purple belt. Just having heart, cardio and the will to win, was not enough. I was five years purple, to change and adapt to the new reality of training seriously. But my biggest inspiration was my professor Jucao; he fought and fights until this day. If you grow up in a gym that your leader is a fighter, you will be one too. I really do not understand martial artists that don’t fight? That’s what keeps me training and alive.

Rafael: I am from the best state in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. Jiu Jitsu capital of the world! I came to the United States in March 2006 and to Louisiana in June . Best state in the nation as well!

Rafael: I was expecting to get my rematch with comprido. I lost to him at the first IBJJF nogi worlds by advantage; however I’ve been having knee issues since I won the worlds November 7th 2013. I did not train at all until Jan 15th when I came back from Brazil, and since then just trained Saturday classes and some days in the mornings just nogi. I trained gi BJJ once since November 2013! Can you believe that? But I felt ok, lost by 2×0 this time. I went for a good takedown and then managed to scramble well and end up on top.

Rafael: I always had two dreams in my life as a bjj fighter. Become a black belt world champion and win a black belt open class. Funny that both dreams came true on the same day. It took me only 20 years to do it, but I did it, and that’s the most import thing. When you win a black belt open class world title, it’s like you’re the king of the jungle. Lots of lions at the jungle my friends. Professor Jucao always told me, win your division is a must, that’s what you train for, but the open, you will only understand when you win! And that’s true. Ranking wise is something relatively new, I think it started in 2012 and I like the idea. I think you can rate a fighter for his past three years performance and the way they do it’s very fair and smart. You have to stay fighting and active if you want to be on top. Who does not like to be the best? So of course I feel great.

Rafael: I hate nogi, always did. Nogi is an American thing. Very popular here, especially with wrestling. In Brazil we trained MMA and during the MMA classes some days we had nogi. I did not train one nogi class in my life before I got my black belt! Just as part of the MMA program. I compare BJJ with baseball and nogi as softball. If you train gi you will do fine in nogi, but the opposite is not true. All ADCC champions, all black belt in BJJ! So that proves two things, gi BJJ is a must and BJJ is the grappling martial art of the world. Not sure if I would be able to win an open class black belt in gi. I’ve never fought gi worlds masters & seniors (above 30yrs old) always fought the young guys even when I was above 30. I guess I will have to find out.

Rafael: That means a lot; I am in a point of my career that I am pretty much done as a fighter. But I still want to lead by example. Look at my black belts, Matthias Meister world champion , Dr. Eddie Lirette world champion, Marco Macera several times IBJJF medalist and Panam medalist, Caroline Vanek Panam medalist. This is what I am accomplishing, making champions, Gracie United itself has almost 100 IBJJF medals. Imagine if I included all Nola BJJ students on this list! Rodney Gemar was a monster, walked thought opponents like nothing. He for sure will be my first black belt from white to black. Nathan Lott fought very wise and effective. Still very conservative and not very confident on his skills. I think this event opened his eyes a lot. From now on I think he will go for more stuff and punish his opponents. I told them in a hotel, guys we can come back with 10 medals, so let’s do this! I will get mine, so don’t mess up! We all had a good laugh about it, but they could tell that I was not joking.

Rafael: The team is my life, some people out of this family can’t understand why people are so loyal to me and why they “worship me” their words. But when you get to know me, you know how passionate I am about this team and my students. I am a full time instructor with 100% of my attention to you guys. Thank god my wife trains and works for Gracie United, otherwise I would not be married anymore. I am not the best in what I do, but it’s rare to see this level of commitment in other teams.

Rafael: I grew up saw my professor, teammates, and myself fighting. I noticed how close we got from that experience. Winning, learning, no matter what was the result we were a family, united, nothing could destroy our peace of minds. We were proud as individuals but invincible as a team. We grew up and life made all of us to go in different paths, but that feeling is what I wanted to preserve the most for Gracie United. The real love of BJJ, no politics and BS.

Rafael: That’s a good question. I need to heal up and do a small procedure on my knee, also lose some weight and get in better shape. I hope I can do this and fight in September. Let’s see what future the holds for me.

Rafael: Remember why you started, stay humble, always thirsty for knowledge, forget about belts and stop being scared of fighting! The mats do not lie.