Photography by Amani Sodiq
On November 12 in 1993, the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight took place in Denver, Colorado. 5,875 miles away in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a young and inspired Rafael Lang watched, plotting the next 30 years of his life.
When Lang was a child, he attended a private school that offered several sports options for students. Every day after school he would partake in a new sport.
Soccer? Judo? Track? Swim? Lang says, yes.
The spirit of competition is what drew Lang into the world of sports.
Lang understood the value of playing with a team. He felt the camaraderie and connection in those sports was important, but something about a solo journey was intriguing.
“I think jiu-jitsu is unique because it’s the only sport that you go to the arena by yourself,” Lang says. “But you cannot improve by yourself.”
It seemed like the best of both worlds.
“You need a whole team behind you. You need to train partners. You need a good coach, but I like the idea that inside the arena if I win or lose, that’s on me. That’s no excuse,” Lang says.
This conclusion and the UFC fight pushed him to fully enter the world of jiu-jitsu and martial arts.
“So at 15,16 years old I decided to be a world champion,” Lang says.
It doesn’t seem like there was another option. Lang had made up his mind and his coaches pushed him forward.
So at 17, he became the World Champion in the Middle Weight and Absolute Division.
He continued, gathering and collecting titles until he was 26. It was at that time, the prime of his career, that he got into a motorcycle crash.
He was left with a plate in his back, four hooks in his shoulder and a plethora of other injuries to nurse.
But returning to the mat was never a question for Lang, despite doctors proclaiming he should never fight again.
He recalls one of the first lessons taught in jiu-jitsu: the tap. Tapping out is how a person can submit or surrender during a match.
“Tap and try again, right? So let’s say I tapped on the motorcycle, but I was ready to try again right after,” Lang says. “That’s what the sport taught me most. Like when you get a takedown, after the takedown, you get up and you try again.”
After he recovered, Lang traveled the world. He began teaching airline companies how to manage unruly passengers, the Australian Army how to navigate combat situations and police in Brazil ways to safely practice self-defense against suspects. Eventually, he made his way to the U.S.
Photography by Amani Sodiq
Today, Lang is a Lakewood resident, sitting on several titles and medals including the 2022 No-Gi Pans Jiu-Jitsu Gold Medal and the 2021 IBJJF Master Worlds Gold Medal. He is also the owner of Rio Jiu-Jitsu Lifestyle, located in Hillside Village Shopping Center.
On the weekends, you can find Lang sitting on the mat with a group of 14 children during their 9 a.m. class, lined up wearing white gis — the traditional uniform for brazilian jiu-jitsu — with white and green belts tied and knotted in the front. None of them are older than 12. They sit in front of him, some more still than others, watching intensely as he models moves with a fellow instructor. He meets their gaze the same way he would any of the five instructors that line the wall behind him, who encourage the children to engage as the class continues.
In the middle of demonstrating a move they would soon replicate, he asks them a question — probing them to see who can tell him what his next step should be.
“Can someone help me here?” he asks the children.
It’s not rhetorical.
The children stretch their arms and hands, offering answers to the hypothetical problem. Every child is known by name. One of the children is Lang’s son.
At the end of class, each student shakes hands with the instructors and as they transition into the adult class, the instructors become the students.
There are 32 group classes every week and private lessons shared amongst the 13 instructors at Rio Jiu-Jitsu. Every instructor has previously been Lang’s student.
“They’ve been with me for years, so I trust them. I know their wives and know their kids. So that’s people that I know,” Lang says. “Capable in terms of ‘do the job’, but also good people.”
Lang’s done it. He’s competed —and won, a lot — he’s taught and he’s opened up his own gym. Now, his goal is to pass on the lessons he’s learned from the sport to the next generation.
