Man im a big fan of Abi Rihan Raphael from Carlson Gracie.His jiu jitsu is amazing....
Its kind of strange that he is not mentioned more on the UG
He lost to Saulo in the 2007 mundials by 4 points only,was leading the fight by an advantage for the first 7 minutes...
I had the pleasure of rolling with him and man -i never got my ass kicked that much in a long time..But i loved every second of it.. Very nice guy with a sick bjj
He's a student of Manimal and Kiko V, who were students of Carlson Gracie. You can find a couple of his brown belt matches versus Dustin Denes on youtube. In both matches, Denes is the one dishing out the "sick bjj."
Raphael has been a force in bjj since he was purple belt, long ago. He's a very game competitor with great skills, and does have "sick bjj."
ttt for Abi Rhian
He & Daniel (?) (Rooster mundial champion 2006) came to Rey's the week before the Mundials last year.
They made a HUGE impression on me.
These guys were more humble than any student at the school. Crazy humble. Grabbing the mop from a Blue Belt and insisting on cleaning up the school humble. Asking to leave the mat to get water humble.
3 days before the mundials Raphael is rolling with evey white belt in class, giving them tons of instuction & attention.
These guys observed a lot of "traditional" ettiquette I am more used to from my JJJ days. But they did it with the proper sincerity. I was curious where exactly that came from.
They treated me like Helio Gracie, when THEY were the elite BJJ players.
Like I said, I was impressed & surprised by them on many levels.
TTT
Where do they train at?
Abi Rihan Raphael has his own school in Lagoa but also trains at Carlson Gracies 2 times a week..Perry ,he actually mentioned you when i talked to him.He was like - do you know Perry,Perry is a very nice guy,he said.
Carlson Gracies in temecula?
"He was like - do you know Perry,Perry is a very nice guy,he said."
That's nice... : )
Yeah, the day they arrived, Rey was out of town, so I was playing jiu jitsu instructor that night. Raphael & Daniel's teacher had told them to come see Rey when they got to Los Angeles, but they had never met him before.
They were SO very polite & repectful to me, about half-way through class I turned to them and said: "You guys DO realize I'm not Rey Diogo, right...?"
You're not!?!?! WTF am I paying you for every month?
andre - You're not!?!?! WTF am I paying you for every month?
That payment is hush money so I don't go public with the info I have that proves you inflated your Starbucks fight record.
Dustin Denes Vs Rafael Abi Rhian - Copa Gavazza 2001
Dustin Denes Vs Rafael Abi Rhian - Niteroi 2001