André Galvão

Posted this earlier but it disappeared so second attempt.

Hey, my name is Evan Ramsden and just received my black belt from Andre Galvao over the weekend after training BJJ for approximately 10 years. Photo is here:

I used to post under a different username but Andre told me to start using my real name online so figured I'd start over with this.

I started training in middle school around 13-14 because I was a fat kid addicted to WoW and my mom made me. She had started training at a local MMA school, fell in love with BJJ and began making trips to Tennessee to train with Helio Soneca. She eventually started her own gym and I began training when she was a blue belt. Our gym is called Maverick Training Center and we are in Huntsville, AL.

When I turned 16 I received my blue belt from Soneca at a Gordo seminar at Samuel Braga's school in Knoxville. Couple years later I was promoted to purple at a seminar. December 2015 at a Vitor Oliveira seminar at Soneca's school he promoted my mom to Black Belt and me to Brown Belt.

We had a falling out you could say with our old affiliation and were independent for a bit. Our good friend and Andre Galvao black belt Tim Sledd recommended we look into Atos and we did. We loved what we saw and applied. Went through a long process and they accepted us. I went out to train at the main gym around this time last year for the first time and had a blast. That is where I first met Andre. Few months later he came down to our gym and gave a seminar. This past seminar was his second time at our gym.

My personal goals are to win world titles. I competed a lot as a kid and won my weight and absolute at the World Pro trials as a 16 year old blue belt. That was my first "big" tournament win other than NAGAs and such. At purple I didn't compete much due to college. I eventually left college as a brown belt and began winning again. Won the Chicago Open, Atlanta Open, Atlanta BJJ Pro, and super fights. Then 2016 was probably my worst year, 2016-early 2017. I was sick all the time, recurring Strep Throat and Walking Pneumonia. It was terrible, my training suffered as did my competing. If I managed to even win my first match I'd be useless my second round because my throat would basically close itself and I couldn't breathe.

I finally went to a specialist after I lost a match at Fight to Win to someone who I believe I should have been able to beat, but got triangled. They told me I had tonsillitis, my tonsils were big and gross and they needed to come out so I had the surgery. That was a few months ago, since then I've been trying to get back to where I was when I was promoted to brown belt. I've had 2 super fights against black belts and heel hooked both.

My next tournament looks to be the No Gi worlds which is a pretty serious one for my first Black Belt competition but Andre told me to come out be in the camp and compete so I'm going to do it.

Anyways, AMA about being a student of your own black belt mom, dropping out of school, training, anything.

Galvao just posted this on his Facebook Page:

"Aqui esta a minha luta contra Chael Sonnen Ontem no Metanoris 4.

OBS: o cara que não sacudiu a não do Sonnen depois da luta não tem nada com meu time ou minha equipe ou comigo. Eu não falei pra ele estar ali. Ele só quis bancar mais uma vez a piada com falta de respeito. Quer se aparecer pendura uma melancia na cabeça. Não importa quem eu luto eu sempre quero impor respeito. #falado

...

Here is my fight against Chael Sonnen at Metamoris 4.

PS: the guy at the end who didn't shake Chael's hand is not my corner man. I know it was a joke but at the same time it was very disrespectful. 1st for me because I didn't told him to be there at my corner and 2nd for Chael because I tell all my corner men to have respect for my opponents. #clear "

There is a sentence in the portuguese version that he didn't include in the english version, it's a brazilian saying that goes like: "If you wanna draw attention, just put a watermelon on top of your head".

I'm with Galvao on this one, tired of Laranja's lack of respect to the community.