Mica Galvao just made his return to BJJ competition and put in a flawless performance, beating three opponents at the CBJJE Sao Paulo Open on July 29th, 2023 and taking home gold in the medium-heavyweight division. Galvao defeated Vinicius Souza in the opening round, Wallison Oliveira in the semi-final, and Otavio Pinheiro in the final of the division. It was the first time that he’d stepped on the mats for several months, so it made sense that Galvao would enter a tournament with significantly lower stakes than he might normally be used to. Still, he turned out a series of solid performances in each match and showed that he hasn’t lost a step since having some time away from the sport.
It’s not as if Galvao stayed out of competition by choice though of course, as he suffered a pretty severe knee injury earlier in the year. He’s clearly made a pretty remarkable recovery though, as it was just three months ago that he suffered the MCL injury and the minimum recovery time was originally set as 8-12 weeks. Not only has he managed to recover in the shortest time possible but he’s also gotten straight back into competition as soon as he was able to do so. He suffered the injury in a match against Kaynan Duarte at BJJ Stars 10 and although he won the match by disqualification due Duarte reaping his knee, the damage was already done.
Not only has Mica Galvao made his return to BJJ competition in general, but it’s also likely that he makes his return to IBJJF competition relatively soon as well. He was suspended from IBJJF competition for one year starting on July 22nd, 2022 due to a failed drugs test and although he was able to prove that it was prescribed by a doctor, he did not obtain a therapeutic use exemption at the time. That’s why his suspension only lasted for one year and he has now served that sentence in full, meaning that he is eligible to compete in any upcoming IBJJF events.
