Mica Galvao’s Spectacular Return to BJJ

Mica Galvao, Micael Ferreira Galvao, just returned to BJJ competitions after taking off for a year, partly because of his suspension and partly because of his injury. Galvao competed at the 2023 CBJJE Sao Paulo Open held on July 29. It was Galvao’s first match after his injury, which occurred at the BJJ Stars 10 BJJ tournament. Galvao won the fight via disqualification in the absolute weight division against Kaynan Duarte.

Galvao won the first position at the tournament and claimed gold for his fabulous and worth-watching performance. He won three consecutive fights at the tournament via submission in the light heavyweight division. Galvao’s first fight was against Vinicius Souza that led Galvao to the semi-final round. In the second fight, Galvao faced Wallison Oliveira and made it to the final round. In the final round of the tournament, Galvao submitted Otavio Pinheiro and proved that despite being off after the injury, he still has the guts to claim victory.

Galvao lost his title of the youngest-ever BJJ champion after testing positive for the use of PEDs. At the 2022 IBJJF World Championship, Galvao defeated Tye Ruotolo and became the 2022 IBJJF World Champion. After testing positive for the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), Galvao was stripped of his IBJJF title and was suspended from competing in any IBJJF competitions. However the champion proved that his positive test was the result of using some medications that were prescribed by his doctors. Galvao’s suspension started on July 22, 2022, so currently, he can compete in any IBJJF competition.

At BJJ Stars 10 which was conducted on April 22, 2023, Galvao won the quarterfinal round against Duarte via disqualification and later lost the semi-final to Fellipe Andrew. The fight against Duarte caused an MCL injury to Galvao. Medial Collateral Ligament injury is the sudden tear of ligament present at the knee joint.

Photo Credit: @micagalvaojj