Andre Galvao is as happy as can be. After a perfect Pan-American championship, where he was consecrated absolute and medium heavyweight champion, the Brasa star went on to Asia, where he disputed and won two Jiu-Jitsu tournaments – the Rickson cup, in Japan, and the Copa Hong Kong II. Back in Brazil, Galvao answered the questions the Jiu-Jitsu world has been asking since Kron Gracie was promoted to black belt: In which category will Galvao fight?
Exclusively to GRACIEMAG.com, he said: “I’ll go in as a medium heavyweight. I put in a lot of effort to gain weight and I want to win the absolute. Last year I only fought at middleweight because Brasa had three athletes in the medium heavyweight, while at middleweight there was only Lucas Leite [he ended up shutting out the category with Galvao]. As the absolute was before the weight fights, I fought poorly, since I was hungry from trying to make weight,” recalls Galvao, who was eliminated by Xande Ribeiro in the 2007 quarterfinals.
Asked about the one laying claim to the absolute division, Roger Gracie, Galvao wasted no time nor good humor: “I’m going in to fight. I don’t like drumming up strategies. Imagine if I were to plan to pull guard and he pulls guard on me, the strategy would go down the tubes,” argues Andre, who has never faced the current absolute world champion.
With his departure for California set for the coming 30th, Galvao carries on training hard. “I’ve trained a lot of judo in Sao Caetano. I even trained with Edinanci Silva [Brazilian Olympic women’s team starter]. She threw me around a lot. I’m also going to train with the French team, which is coming here for an exchange,” he tells. Whoever’s seen the absolute final from 2006, between Xande Ribeiro and Roger, might say Galvao is on the right path.
Sign-ups for the 2008 Jiu-Jitsu World Championship are open and will go till May 29th. The event takes place from the 5th to the 8th of June, at the California State University Long Beach gymnasium, in California. To sign up, click here. And don’t forget to check out the complete coverage of the 2008 Worlds, with first hand information and an image gallery right here on GRACIEMAG.com.
