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[The Iceman]

BJJ Mundial Champion, André Galvão is the new coach of Wanderlei Silva to improve his ground techniques. The black-belt will pass all his knowledge to Mr. Pride and his team that is being set up in . Athlete from Brasa, Galvão talks about the agreement with Wanderlei, his opinion about the ex-champion of Pride and his debut in MMA. The complete interview you can follow below:

How you got to this agreement with Wanderlei?

I was in to give some seminaries afyter the world championship. I received a call from Alejarra and he said something about training Wanderlei´s ground part. I was very happy to know that Wanderlei likes my work and had no doubt in accepting his offer.

Are you going to definitely move to with your family?

I´ll move with my family. I spoke to Alejarra that there was no problem in going to if Wanderlei permitted me to take my family together with me and he said it was ok. I was very happy with this. At first, I will stay there these next 3 months.

So are you going to stop representing Brasa team in Jiu-Jitsu and in MMA?

I´m Brasa´s athlete, I spoke to Leo (Vieira), that´s my professor, with Demian (Maia), (Rodrigo) Comprido and Castelo (Branco) and they were very happy for me. I would like to greet them for their support. My move to must not change my compromise in fighting Jiu-Jitsu and Submission for Brasa, mainly because it´s an MMA team. In MMA I´ll represent the team who gives me support in the MMA training. I expect doing a great debut

Do you have an idea of your debut in Vale-Tudo? Will it be in intemediated by Wanderlei?

I have no idea of my debut now. Before all of this happened, I was almost signing with an event in . Because of this move to I haven´t signed, the event will happen in february and I don´t want to stay fixed in any event here for a while because I don´t know what can happen in the future. I want to do a good job in . Talking about the place of the debut, for me there´s no difference, I want to do a great debut in a great event. Wanderlei can help me, but first he should know me better this also depends if I´ll do a good job with him. In this moment, I´m going to to train and help Wand.

What do you think you can change in his game?

I want to change and increase what is necessary in Wanderlei’s game, I think I can do this very well. Everything that´s wrong will be corrected and what needs to be increased will be increased. Wanderlei is black-belt in Jiu-Jitsu, he has his own style and positions he likes to do, but I can improve this. I´ll increase his vision and sensiblity on the ground and also his attack and defense techniques.

Can this experience improve your game and prepare yourself to enter Vale-Tudo?

I expect to learn a lot, specially in the exchange part, I want to be a complete athlete in MMA. I think I´ll learn a lot in .

What do you think of Wanderlei?

As an athlete his exceptional, already proved this with everything that he conquered. I don´t know him much as a person. I spoke to him few times in some events where we met each other. I can talk about this better after going to USA, but what I can say now is that he´s a modest and very calm guy.

Why do you think he chose you to be his coach?

I think this choice must have been made because he watched me fighting in some recent events. This helped a lot. He said in an interview that he likes the way I concentrate myself and the way I fight. I think this was the reason, he can talk better about this. I´ll like to thank everybody from TATAME and all the readers.

http://www.tatame.com/interviews

[twankydawg]

Good find man, anyone know about this guy and how solid his ground game is?

[Gurry]

if wand loses i think ill stop posting here, mma as of recntley has broken my heart far too many times like a bad girlfreind, ill still be an avid mma'er but i need a break if wand loses his next fight. That being said WAR WANDY

[Noob]

That's awesome. Silva could not have picked many better coaches than Andre Galvao.



If this works out to its potential, Wandy is going to pose some serious problems for people.

[twankydawg]

Originally Posted by Noob

That's awesome. Silva could not have picked many better coaches than Andre Galvao.



If this works out to its potential, Wandy is going to pose some serious problems for people.

So who is this guy Noob? Who's he trained under and does he have any grappling titles or anything?

[Noob]

Originally Posted by twankydawg

So who is this guy Noob? Who's he trained under and does he have any grappling titles or anything?

Holy shit man. Andre Galvao is a beast.


He's the BJJ Mundial champ, perennial contender in Abu Dhabi. I tried to find a list of his accomplishments but I only found a few old references.


He's from the TT camp, which is now closed I believe, but was revolutionary for popularizing the Turtle Guard and Octopus Guard. They were also just a damned good camp.


Galvao has been winning world-class tournaments since he was at least a purple belt, maybe even at blue. He's a complete phenom, and is still young enough that most of his career is ahead of him. He is without question at the very top of the foodchain. He is one of a handful of guys considered to be the absolute best in the world. Right up there with Marcelo Garcia, Jacare and others.


He has several techniques, and even a few warm-up exercises named after him. I'm in Spain right now and we do the 'Galvao' every day to warm up for class.


He's actually planning an MMA debut himself. Not sure when, but sometime fairly soon.

[bobbysmith]

he must really think highly of galvao....to move his whole family

[Noob]

Originally Posted by bobbysmith

he must really think highly of galvao....to move his whole family

Galvao deserves to be thought highly of. He is a very very good BJJ practitioner and competitor.

[hass]

yeah yeah,

Now pretend I said something about this guy that sounds like something Joe Rogan says during every pay per view.

Hahadfja;aljdf

[Noob]

Originally Posted by hass

yeah yeah,

Now pretend I said something about this guy that sounds like something Joe Rogan says during every pay per view.

Hahadfja;aljdf

I'm actually kind of surprised that no one has heard of this guy. He's not a household name, but he's far from a nobody. He's young, and one of the more exciting BJJ guys out there at the moment.


Maybe I'm just a BJJ dork. :headscratch: