Lovato Jr. signs with Bellator, will debut in March

BJJ world champion Rafael Lovato Jr. has been having a successful transition into MMA. Undefeated in four bouts at Legacy, the black-belt under Saulo and Xande Ribeiro has now scored again by signing a deal with Bellator. Lovato used social media to break the news.

As you all have been able to see by my posts lately, I am currently training for a MMA fight. I haven’t officially announced it yet, because the promotion has been working hard the last couple of weeks on securing an opponent for me & nothing has been made official. Well, everything is coming together now & my opponent will be secured this evening so I can go ahead & tell you where I will be fighting. On March 3rd, in my home state of #Oklahoma, I will be making my @bellatormma debut at #Bellator174!!! I will be fighting with my new student @thebigpygmy & my bro @kendallgrovemma that same night! I am very excited for this opportunity & am ready to put on a great performance! Tomorrow I will post more details. Thank you all for your support! #TeamLovatoMMA #RibeiroJiuJitsu #EvolucaoThai #GreenStrength #BrookoverEnterprises @onnit @pr2systems @myluckygi @onthemat @raiflo2016 ? by @legacyfighting

A post shared by Rafael Lovato Jr (@lovatojrbjj) on Feb 8, 2017 at 12:19pm PST

The second non-Brazilian to ever become a BJJ world champion — after B.J. Penn, — Lovato has his debut slated for Bellator 174, on March 3rd in Oklahoma, his hometown. The 33-year-old will take on the experienced Wayman Carter in the middleweight class.

Lovato is training in Brazil at André Dida’s gym alongside UFC fighters Serginho Moraes, Francisco Massaranduba, Godofredo Pepey and Joaquim “Neto BJJ.”

Treino sinistro hoje aqui em @evolucaothaibrasil! Aqui estou com meus manos que lutam no @ufc representando #EvolucaoThaiBrasil @godofredopepey @serginhoalliance @massarandubamma @nettobjj. Muito Jiu-Jitsu e muito porrada em nesta foto ?? | Sick training today in #Curitiba! Here I am with the #EvolucaoThai #UFC fighters after the session. Three of them will be fighting next month in #Fortaleza including my friend & Black Belt World Champion @serginhoalliance. Keep your eyes on these guys! #GorilasDaPorrada #JiuJitsuComPorrada

A post shared by Rafael Lovato Jr (@lovatojrbjj) on Feb 2, 2017 at 8:02am PST