Micael Mica Galvao is the youngest black let in history, as well as the youngest ADCC champion ever. The Brazilian prodigy Micao Galvao managed to conquer the lightweight ADCC division with apparent ease and made the world aware of the new breed of grapplers that are representing the future of JIu-Jitsu. In a brand new video, he breaks down his famous Mica Galvao armbar which he used so successfully throughout his still very young career.
The setup for the Mica Galvao armbar starts very early before any grips are placed. What Mical likes to do is find a way to place an arm in the space between the elbow, armpit, and body on one side of his opponent. Once he has that, he can set up an armbar from the bottom, top, or even standing.
In the video, Mica uses the knee slice pass as the launching pad for his signature armbar setup. The first thing that is required for the Mica Galvao armbar is an underhook on the far side, placed exactly in the space described above. The underhook does not have to be deep, like for passing the guard, but rather just have an arm present in the inside space area on the opponent’s far side.
The palm on the reaching arm faces upwards, thus ensuring the bottom person cannot retract their arm to avoid the Mica Galvao armbar.
In fact, Mica sets up the grip to grab the back of the shoulder, rather than the triceps which can slip out with sweaty opponents who have short or no-sleeve rashguards. He then proceeds to bring his head and chest as close as possible to the gripping arm, effectively crossfacing the opponent’s far shoulder. This grip prevents the bottom person from turning in either direction, allowing for an easy armbar entry.
Passing the far leg over the opponent’s head from a spinning armbar entry leg does not require flexibility. Instead, he pushes the head down with the free arm, opening the hips slightly to gain a greater range of motion for the free leg.
From there, the far leg easily steps over the head, as Mica pivots on the knee of the leg that was slicing. There is no uncontrollable spin, but rather a methodical sliding of the knee behind the opponent’s back, before sitting down into a tight finishing position for the Mica Galvao armbar.
Throughout the entire motion, the initial grip behind the shoulder stays in place, or as close to the original position as possible, depending on the size of the opponent.
The extension of the arm at the very end is also methodical, without rushing. The deep gripping hand slides towards the elbow, never allowing for any unnecessary space to appear. The end grip for finishing is a double wrist grip with both hands, making sure the thumb of the opponent’s arm is pointing upwards toward the ceiling.
Finally, getting a leg over the opponent’s chest is not mandatory for finishing with the Mica Galvao armbar, as the set-up initially leads to a knee under the armpit position.
