Rafael Lovato Jr was in the UK last week, after competing at the Euros in Lisbon; Rafael visited UK black belt Eddie Kone and gave a seminar on guard passing at Eddie’s club.  I was fortunate enough to grab a few words with Rafael, who kindly took time out of his busy schedule to answer my questions, prior to the seminar.  Thanks to Eddie Kone for allowing the interview to happen and in bringing over Rafael once again to the UK.

Hi Rafael, thanks for taking time out for the interview; you’re in the UK for a few days, after competing at the Euros in Lisbon right?

Thank you Carl and that’s right, I was at the Euros again this year, it’s a great tournament as it’s at the beginning at the year and it’s always full of tough competitors and world champions.  Any mistakes I make at the Europeans I can adjust and go back and fix them up and get better and better throughout the year and get ready for the major comps later in the year.

It’s like a testing ground before the Pan Ams and Mundials?

Exactly right Carl.  The Worlds is all that matters, you can lose at every other tournament but if you win the Worlds you’re the world champion that year.

What brings you to the Euros year after year?

The level of competitor at the start of the year is huge here at the Euros and although I didn’t get the result I wanted, I got bronze in my weight bracket and Absolute, but I felt like I performed fairly well.  I was playing my game that I had been working on you know, so with all that said I felt pretty good.  I beat some pretty tough guys, but I lost to Bernard Faria in the semis in the Absolute, it was 4-2, a really close match and at the end of the match I swept him with a kimura position and if I had picked up the points I would have won, but the time ran out ya know.

Again in the weight class, I competed against Tussa Alencar, we have fought many times and they have been really close matches and this time it was his time win, I lost by takedown and once again at the end of the match I swept him and got to his back and finished the match with both my hooks in and didn’t get the points.  I felt at least I could have the points for the sweep which would have given me the match, as I was ahead on advantages, but it didn’t work out that way but that’s OK, better to lose here at the Euros, so I can go back and correct my mistakes.

Gracie Adventure Camp, Jiu Jitsu in Paradise

Oh, February. Winter still has us in her icy grip. I don’t remember when I last saw the sun. My gi pants freeze into icy armor plates as I walk through the parking lot after class.

Bill Thomas: Hey guys, this is Bill with bjjweekly.com and I'm here with Doug Kimball and Robson Moura. We're going to talk a little bit and do a little interview and also talk about an upcoming seminar depending on where you hear this interview that Hobson’s doing with his association.

In this video shot by Hywel Teague of BJJ Hacks, Roger Gracie opens up about funky moves, learning BJJ from YouTube, and progression in jiu-jitsu. You can bet that if Roger has something to say about jiu-jitsu it's worth your time to listen!

Josh Rosenthal is widely recognized as one of the top refs in the UFC. He's been the man in charge of some of the biggest fights in the history of the sport including Lesnar vs Carwin, and recently Hendo vs Shogun. Listen in as Bill Thomas of BJJ Weekly chats with Josh about his jiu-jitsu roots, what it's like to be in the cage at the main event, and who packs the most power in the world of MMA.

Phil Migliarese has been in the Jiu-Jitsu game for a long time. He's a 4th degree blackbelt under Relson Gracie and has over 20 years of experience teaching Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. He runs Balance Studios, a very succesful school in Philidelphia. We heard a rumor that some folks in the BJJ community in Philly were pretty upset with Phil though, and we decided to give him a call to hear his side of the story.

Our friend Jesus Carlos (J.C.) recently attended a seminar in Germany with Rolles Gracie and got a chance to sit down with Rolles at a post seminar cookout and ask him some questions. Thanks for sharing J.C. !

Rickson Gracie recently sat down with our friends at BJJ Hacks and shared his thoughts on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions, stalling, approaches to training, modern MMA and what training means to him.

Rener Gracie discusses why the Bullyproof program is so important to his family, and how it is being embraced as a realistic, non violent way for kids to fight back against bullies.

I've never been to Brazil. In my imagination it all looks like Ipanema Beach. But the Favelas never make it onto the postcards. It's a side of life most of us will never see, much less understand. But it's a reality for thousands of kids who grow up there, just like Robson Moura did.