When Rafael Lovato Jr. announced that he would be stepping into collegiate wrestling competition at 42 years old, many people assumed it was a decision planned across a long period of time.

According to Lovato Jr., the reality was very different.

Here is what he had to say in an interview with BJJEE:

It wasn’t really a choice. It just happened and came to fruition.

I’ve definitely fallen in love with the art of wrestling for wrestling itself, like just the pure art of wrestling, the sport of wrestling over these last few years.

In the past, I did wrestling because it was more something you had to do.
Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but I was doing it with the mindset or the purpose of preparing for other events, for ADCC or for MMA.

And so I was just doing wrestling for grappling or wrestling for MMA.
And then these last few years, I just wanted to do wrestling for wrestling.

Lovato Jr. credits much of this shift to working with high-level coaches and immersing himself in the collegiate environment:

I found a great coach who has become a really special friend, Nick Heflin, who is an amazing wrestler himself, multiple time All-American, D1 finalist, practically made the world team on a couple of occasions and competed against some of the best guys in the world in his career.

And he was coaching at OU. And so I was going to the university there…

Being a part of the practices and being around the team just made me really appreciate wrestling and the whole environment of being on a college team and just wanting to absorb that energy and learn as much as I can.

His involvement only deepened:

I was going very regularly, whether I had a competition or not, I was just going all the time.

And then that kind of just expanded into where I’m studying wrestling, you know, watching wrestling matches.
And then I made a trip to Penn State last year or two years ago in twenty twenty four and had a great time there.

And then I’ve done several sessions with Coach Askren, Ben Askren, and it just my love and desire to get better at wrestling and compete in wrestling grew to where I did a freestyle, the Freestyle Master Nationals, which takes place during the U.S. Open.

I did that last year and I had a lot of fun and I just feel like it’s making me better.

And I love the challenge. I love being a student. I love staying hungry and just continuing to evolve.

For years, Lovato Jr. had expressed regret about never wrestling in college:

I even found myself saying on numerous occasions, like, man, if I could go back in time, I would definitely like to pursued wrestling and had that experience of being on a team and competing in college…

Even thinking about it for my own kids and my son, I’m like, that would be something really special for him to pursue.
And if I could go back, I would do it.

That wish unexpectedly became reality when Brian Picklo, his longtime wrestling and judo coach, contacted him about an opening at Oklahoma City University:

He reached out to me and said that their heavyweight tore his ACL, and they have an open spot.
They have no way to recruit anybody.

So they were either giving up points or they’re putting a smaller guy into that spot…
Basically, they were losing points every time.

Lovato Jr. felt everything aligning at once:

You put it out there. Here’s the opportunity. You can challenge yourself. You can do this…
I checked with all the events. I have no grappling matches coming up in this timeframe… The opportunity is there.

You’ve thought about it. You’ve talked about it. You’ve been training wrestling.
Like all the signs were there that this was something that I should do…

It’s like, all right, this is meant to be, I manifested this and now I need to do it.

Before committing, he spoke with his wife and his inner circle:

I had to talk to my wife and make sure that she was on the same page with me.
Everyone reinforced and said, yeah, this is something you can’t pass up and this would be too special to not do.

Now, he is fully immersed in the college wrestling room:

It’s a young room. So they’re kids being kids.

But I love it because it’s that young energy, kids that are just full of life.
They’re living their dream.

The practice can be grueling – there’s another layer of a physicality and just fire and push.
And it just takes me back. It just makes me feel like a kid again.

Despite the attention surrounding his age, Lovato Jr. refuses to treat this as symbolic:

My goal is to be a national champion. I don’t do anything to just take part.

You know, I’m there to do my best to win, to take over…
My ultimate goal of course is to win as many matches as I can and become a national champion.

At the same time, he acknowledges the freedom of competing without the expectations he carries in BJJ:

It’s fun in that sense, because I don’t feel the kind of pressure that I do for Jiu-Jitsu or grappling…
But at the end of the day, I do feel like I am a good wrestler and now it’s just time to prove it.

For Lovato Jr., this season is simply another chapter in his lifelong pursuit of becoming a complete martial artist:

My number one goal in life has always been to be the best martial artist I can possibly be, to be the most complete martial artist I can possibly be.

I don’t want to be on my deathbed one day, thinking that I wish I would have done more of something.
I want to leave nothing left in the tank, empty it completely.

He believes this experience will elevate everything he does next:

I’m going to come out of this more experienced, a better overall Jiu-Jitsu artist, better martial artist.

I think this experience is only going to help me battle those guys even more…
I’m not done. I’m going to keep pushing myself.

Above all else, he hopes the journey resonates with others:

My number one goal always is to inspire as many people as I can.

This just lets me live by example that much more and hopefully reach more people…
And give them a little spark to go for whatever it is that their heart is calling them to do.

 

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