André Galvão facts for kids

Quick facts for kids André Luiz Leite Galvão
André Galvão setting up a choke on his opponent at the 2008 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Born	(1982-09-29) September 29, 1982 (age 42) São Sebastião, São Paulo, Brazil
Other names	Deco
Residence	San Diego, California
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Division	Welterweight
Reach	71.5 in (182 cm)
Stance	Southpaw
Fighting out of	San Diego, California
Team	Atos Jiu-Jitsu (2008-present) Team Brasa (2007–2008) TT jiujitsu (2003–2006)
Rank	4th deg. BJJ black belt Judo black belt
Years active	1996 – present
Mixed martial arts record
Total	7
Wins	5
By knockout	1
By submission	3
By decision	1
Losses	2
By knockout	1
By decision	1
Medal record Men's Submission Wrestling ADCC World Championship Bronze 2007 -77 kg Bronze 2007 Absolute Silver 2009 -88 kg Gold 2011 -88 kg Gold 2011 Absolute Gold 2013 Super Fight Gold 2015 Super Fight Gold 2017 Super Fight Gold 2019 Super Fight ADCC South American Championship Gold 2007 -77 kg Gold 2009 -88 kg World Championship Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Gold 2017 -88 kg (black) Gold 2016 -94 kg (black) Gold 2014 -94 kg (black) Bronze 2013 -88 kg (black) Gold 2008 -88 kg (black) Bronze 2008 Absolute (black) Silver 2007 -82 kg (black) Silver 2006 -82 kg (black) Gold 2005 -82 kg (black) Gold 2004 -82 kg (brown) Gold 2004 Absolute (brown) Gold 2003 -82 kg (purple) Gold 2003 Absolute (purple) Gold 2002 -82 kg (blue) Silver 2001 -82 kg (blue) Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Pan American Championships Gold 2014 Absolute (black) Gold 2014 Ultra heavy (black) Silver 2013 Absolute (black) Gold 2013 Medium heavy (black) Gold 2011 Medium heavy (black) Gold 2008 Medium heavy (black) Gold 2008 Absolute (black) Gold 2006 Middleweight (black) Gold 2005 Middleweight (black) Gold 2005 Absolute (black) Gold 2004 Middleweight (brown) Gold 2004 Absolute (brown) Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Cup Gold 2014 Abu Dhabi, UAE -88kg Bronze 2014 Abu Dhabi, UAE Absolute Gold 2013 Abu Dhabi, UAE -88kg Gold 2012 Abu Dhabi, UAE -88kg Silver 2012 Abu Dhabi, UAE Absolute

André Luiz Leite Galvão (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐ̃ˈdɾɛ ɡawˈvɐ̃w]; born September 29, 1982) is a Brazilian grappler and professional mixed martial artist. A 4th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Fernando "Tererê" Augusto as well as a Judo black belt, Galvão is one of the most decorated athletes ever, having won most major international tournaments multiple times.

Galvão is the co-founder and head coach of Atos Jiu Jitsu in San Diego, California, one of the most successful BJJ teams in competitive sport, and a coach to numerous world champions. He is the author of the martial arts book Drill to Win: One Year to Better Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

In June 2022 Galvão was inducted into the IBJJF Hall of Fame & in September 2022, he was inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame.

Submission grappling

Galvão has won the 2011 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship (weight and absolute) Brazilian National Championship, World Jiu-Jitsu Championship and Pan American Championships multiple times and has also taken third place in the 2007 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship at both -77 kg and openweight. Despite his frequent competition success, Galvao has stated that he only began to learn Wrestling as an adult after he moved to America in 2008.

Galvão was a competitor in the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in Barcelona, Spain where he placed second in the -88 kg class. More recently, Galvao had a standout performance in 2011, first by winning the Ultimate Absolute NYC by defeating standouts Antonio Braga Neto, Vinny Magalhaes, and Rustam Cshiev. At the 2011 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship Galvão captured gold in both the -88 kg and absolute weight classes defeating Rousimar Palhares and Pablo Popovitch, in each respective finals.

Galvão defeated Braulio Estima by rear naked choke in their Superfight at the 2013 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship.

Galvão faced Chael Sonnen at Metamoris IV on August 9, 2014. He won the bout via a rear-naked choke submission.

On August 30, 2015, he defeated Roberto Abreu via points (6–0) at the 2015 ADCC Superfight.

At ADCC 2017, Galvão defeated Claudio Calasans via decision.

At ADCC 2019, Galvão defeated Felipe Pena via points (2–0).

Despite initially going back and forth on whether or not to retire from the sport altogether, Galvao confirmed in 2021 that he will be returning at least one more time to defend his ADCC superfight championships at the 2022 World Championship event. In November 2021, Galvao became part of the inaugural class of the ADCC Hall of Fame thanks to his records as the longest-serving superfight champion and most decorated competitor.

At ADCC 2022, Galvão lost his superfight title to Gordon Ryan, being submitted by a rear-naked choke.

Mixed martial arts

Galvão made his mixed martial arts debut in 2008, and in 2009 he entered DREAM's 2009 Welterweight Tournament.

Since completing the tournament, Galvão fought in Strikeforce. He earned a record of 2 wins and 1 loss in the promotion before retiring from the sport.

Despite being retired from MMA for over a decade, Galvão revealed on November 30, 2020, that he was planning on making a return to professional MMA competition at some point in 2021.

On November 8, 2021, it was announced that Galvão had signed a multi-fight contract with ONE Championship. He made his promotional debut in a grappling match against ONE Middleweight and ONE Light Heavyweight Champion Reinier de Ridder at ONE: X on March 26, 2022. They grappled to a draw after 12 minutes after neither could find the submission.

Mixed martial arts record

Submission grappling record

Result	Opponent	Method	Event	Division	Date	Location
Loss	Gordon Ryan	Submission (rear naked choke)	ADCC 2022	Superfight	September 18, 2022	Las Vegas, NV
Draw	Reinier de Ridder	Draw	ONE: X	Superfight	March 26, 2022	Kallang
Win	Felipe Pena	Points (2–0)	ADCC 2019	Superfight	September 29, 2019	Los Angeles, CA
Win	Claudio Calasans	Points (6–0)	ADCC 2017	Superfight	September 23, 2017	Espoo
Loss	Leandro Lo	Referee Decision	IBJJF Pro League	Absolute	August 26, 2017	Las Vegas, NV
Win	Alexandre Ribeiro	Referee Decision
Win	Patirick Gaudio	Referee Decision	IBJJF World Championships	-88 kg	June 4, 2017	Long Beach, CA
Win	Felipe Pena	Points (2–0)
Win	Kit Dale	Points (9–0)
Win	Jorge Britto	Submission (kimura)
Win	Eduardo Telles	Points (8–0)	IBJJF San Diego Open	Superfight	May 13, 2017	San Diego, CA
Win	Jackson Souza	Referee Decision	IBJJF World Championships	-94 kg	June 5, 2016	Long Beach, CA
Win	Cassio Francis	Advantages
Win	Lucas Rocha	Penalty
Win	Felipe Mota	Submission (choke)
Win	Bruno Bastos	Submission (rear naked choke)	Fight2Win Pro	Superfight	May 8, 2015	San Diego, CA
Loss	Felipe Pena	Points (0–4)	World Pro	-94 kg	April 22, 2016	Abu Dhabi
Win	Jackson Souza	Submission (wristlock)
Win	Tiago Pessoa	Points (2–0)
Loss	Erbeth Santos	Advantages		Absolute	April 21, 2016
Win	Davi Ramos	Advantages
Win	Patrick Gaudio	Advantages
Win	Romulo Barral	Points (1–0)	Berkut 2	Superfight	November 21, 2015	Moscow
Win	Igor Silva	Technical Submission (injury)	IBJJF European Championship	Absolute	January 25, 2015	Lisbon
Win	Renato Cardoso	Points (4–0)		-88 kg
Win	Rodrigo Fajardo	Submission (choke)
Win	Martin Aedma	Submission (choke)
Win	Samuel Monin	Submission (armbar)
Win	Tarcisio Jardim	Submission (armbar)		Absolute	January 24, 2015
Win	Erbeth Santos	Submission (north/south choke)
Win	Thomas Johannesson	Submission (armbar)
Win	Gabriel Rosberg	Submission (choke)
Win	Roberto Abreu	Points (6–0)	ADCC 2015	Superfight	August 29, 2015	São Paulo
Win	Chael Sonnen	Submission (rear-naked choke)	Metamoris IV	Superfight	August 9, 2014	Los Angeles, CA
Win	Braulio Estima	Submission (rear naked choke)	ADCC 2013	Superfight	October 19, 2013	Beijing
Draw	Ryron Gracie	Draw	Metamoris I	Superfight	October 14, 2012	Los Angeles, CA
Win	Pablo Popovitch	Submission (toe hold)	ADCC 2011	Absolute	September 25, 2011	Nottingham
Win	Murilo Santana	Points (0-0)
Win	Sergio Moraes	Points (6–0)
Win	Shinsho Anzai	Submission (rear naked choke)
Win	Rousimar Palhares	Points (9–4)		-88 kg
Win	Pablo Popovitch	Points (2–0)
Win	Gunnar Nelson	Points (2–0)			September 24, 2011
Win	Don Ortega	Points
Win	Rustam Chsiev	Judges Decision	Ultimate Absolute NYC	Absolute	July 30, 2011	New York City, NY
Win	Vinny Magalhães	Points (4–0)
Win	Antônio Braga Neto	Points (2–0)
Win	Nolan Dutcher	Submission (armbar)
Loss	Alexandre Ribeiro	Points (0–3)	ADCC 2009	Absolute	September 27, 2009	Barcelona
Win	Tom DeBlass	Points (3–0)
Loss	Braulio Estima	Submission (inverted triangle choke)		-88 kg
Win	David Avellan	Points (2–0)
Win	Kassim Annan	Points (11–0)			September 26, 2009
Win	Chris Weidman	Points (4–0)
Win	Bruno Bastos	Submission (rear naked choke)	ADCC Brazilian Championship 2009	-88 kg	February 21, 2009	São Paulo
Win	Rodolfo Vieira	Points
Win	Alexandre Ferreira	Submission (rear naked choke)	ADCC 2007	Absolute	May 6, 2007	Trenton, NJ
Loss	Robert Drysdale	Submission (rear naked choke)
Win	Fabricio Werdum	Points
Win	Baret Yoshida	Points
Win	Mike Fowler	Points		-77 kg	May 5, 2007
Loss	Pablo Popovitch	Points
Win	Mark Bocek	Submission (heel hook)			May 4, 2007
Win	Chris Bright	Points
Win	Rafael dos Anjos	Submission (heel hook)	ADCC Brazilian Championship 2007	-77 kg	February 4, 2007	Rio de Janeiro

Instructor lineage

Mitsuyo "Count Koma" Maeda → Carlos Gracie, Sr. → Helio Gracie → Rolls Gracie → Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti → Alexandre Paiva → Fernando "Tererê" Augusto → André Galvao

Published works

• Drill to Win: One Year to Better Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Victory Belt Publishing, 2010).

The book focuses on "learning the transitional skills of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and submission wrestling through proper diet, calisthenics, and technical drills".

See also

• List of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners
• List of current ONE fighters