Calasans Confirms Match With Galvao Will Be For Real

With $40,000 on the line some people doubted whether Claudio Calasans and Andre Galvao -- two childhood friends and teammates -- wouldn't just work something out when it came time to meet in the Superfight at the 2017 ADCC in Finland.

ADCC doesn't permit closeouts, and any competitors known to each other that are suspected of fixing a match (or just not fighting hard enough) risk getting disqualified without ceremony.

ADCC 2015 Absolute champion Claudio Calasans sets the record straight: his match with fellow Atos black belt Andre Galvao is going to be legit.


Galvao (left) and Calasans at the 2015 ADCC in Brazil shortly after both men had been crowned champion. Photo: Hywel Teague

"No, this is going to be for real," he says. "You have a lot of people who think this, but we're prepared to make history in jiu-jitsu."

"Beyond being from the same team -- that already has many stories of people not fighting -- we're prepared to make history. Independent of our friendship, independent of our team, we're going there to conquer the principal title in the world of jiu-jitsu, something that few people can do."

We're not going to split the money, nothing like that. It's just another match in the career, where one person wins and another loses. We're both going there to win and to give our best.

Calasans won the ADCC 2015 absolute division in Sao Paulo, beating Gabriel 'Fedor' Lucas, Vinny Magalhaes, Yuri Simoes and Joao Gabriel Rocha. The feat earned him the right to challenge the defending superfight champion, Andre Galvao.

At the same event, Andre Galvao defended his superfight title by beating Roberto 'Cyborg' Abreu. Galvao became superfight champion at ADCC China in 2013 by beating Braulio Estima, a match he earned by winning the ADCC 2011 absolute division.

Calasans and Galvao will face off at the ADCC 2017 World Championships on September 24 in Espoo, Finland. Watch it LIVE or On Demand ONLY on FloGrappling