Fabricio Andrey is one of the most exciting grapplers in the world and he recently opened up about one of the bigger storylines in his career recently, his decision to leave Melqui Galvao. It was a surprise at the time because Andrey was one of the top competitors on the team and alongside his training partners Diogo Reis and Mica Galvao, he really helped to put the team on the map. Andrey wasn’t alone when he left the team though, and in fact there were 3 elite competitors who left Galvao all at the same time almost two years ago now.
The reasons behind the split weren’t made public at first but there didn’t appear to be any animosity, with both Reis and Galvao wishing their former teammates good luck. In a recent interview, Andrey shared a little insight into his decision to leave:
“I felt like I wasn’t being valued the way I deserved it…I think it’s about respect.”
Galvao is one of the most successful coaches in the sport right now and left ADCC 2024 with a pair of champions, so he’s clearly doing something great in the training room. Andrey didn’t seem to disagree with that sentiment and he felt it important to stress that there were no issues with the actual training itself or the instruction from Galvao himself:
“There was always a good training… He was very important. He helped me a lot. I grew up a lot.”
Andrey also made sure it was clear to everyone listening that there wasn’t any bad feeling between any of the grapplers involved. They all shared the mats together at ADCC 2024 and he had nothing but good things to say:
“I complimented him, he just fought with Diogo (Reis). I complimented him, he hugged me.”
The full interview with Fabricio Andrey where he talks about his reasons for leaving the Melqui Galvao team was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Connect Cast:
