After a 3 year hiatus from MMA due to brain cavernoma, my good friend Rafael Lovato Jr returned to MMA with a victory via kimura in the 1st round over the previously undefeated Taiga Iwasaki. Rafael was the previous Bellator MMA champion but had to vacate his belt due to the diagnosis of his brain condition. You can hear more about his diagnosis on this episode of the Joe Rogan podcast. After a busy year of winning the IBJJF European championship, taking 4th in ADCC and becoming a dad to twins, Rafael finished off the year with this mma victory. It was awesome to see his wife and Xande Ribeiro in the crowd holding the babies. Fighting in Japan was always on the bucket list for Lovato and I am glad to see him finish off the year in style.
