It’s Science: Andre Galvao

There are few competitors as dominant and imposing as Andre Galvao.  There is a lot to admire about Andre Galvao including his win record, competition accomplishments, flashy techniques, and physcial dominance. The video above is a quick overview of the larger study conducted below.

We did a micro-evaluation, similar to what we provide for competitors, that broke down 15 of Andre’s matches over the past 6 years. We have only included techniques and information below that was recorded and observed in the matches we viewed. 15 matches is more than enough for an acceptable sample in this case. Video selection was a random sample of 30 available videos.

The trends you see in the numbers are his game, which is both simple and exotic at the same time.  Notice how precise his actual competition game is, and how it all flows together. His game is actually reflects much of what we found in our recent study pretty well (2012 World Bjj Study) . In watching him you simply have to wonder if he is the guy that is setting the curve right now. The goal of every competitor should be to develop a set of techniques that you can practice efficiently and effectively that flow together flawlessly. You could argue the Galvao is the current jiu jitsu trend setter, in terms of techniques and style, and that he is the one on the cutting edge of competition development right now.

Before we get to the data we wanted to outline a few standouts in the data…

• His avg. match length was observed at approximately 5:48
• He finished approximately 66%+ of his matches by submission
• In every match that he won in the study, he scored first points, and in every match that he lost, his opponent scored first
• He pulled guard more often than executing a takedown
• When he was threatened by a takedown he had reduced success
• He was not submitted in any of the matches we observed