A Better Way To Break An Arm

In partnership with

Mica Galvao broke another arm this weekend. Today we’re going to review the otherworldly timing and precision that turned him into the best pure Brazilian jiu-jitsu player in the world. Then, in the Premium Notebook, we’re going to review Bo Nickal’s biggest wrestling win to explain why his style might not pan out at the highest levels of MMA.

Now let’s get into it.

BJJ Stars is one of the biggest pro Brazilian jiu-jitsu shows in the sport’s home country. This weekend they put on an invitational tournament with ADCC and IBJJF star competitors.

In the end, Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s brightest young star, Mica Galvao, added another high profile tournament win. To claim it, he had to break the arm of one of the most exciting competitors in grappling, Roberto Jimenez.

This arm lock attempt was just foreshadowing. About a few minutes later Galvao was back on Jimenez’s arm to break it.

Here’s a still of the final submission to explain why Galvao was able to break Jimenez’s arm.

1. Galvao’s low knee is flared out to put weight on Jimenez’s torso and anchor himself to Jimenez’s body

2. Galvao’s high leg is hooked on Jimenez’s neck to reinforce the low leg and keep Jimenez’s head down

Now let’s compare the two arm bar attempts side by side below.

In the red circle on top you’ll see Galvao’s knee in the correct position. It’s flaring into Jimenez’s torso. In the red circle on bottom you’ll see Galvao’s knee flared away from Jimenez’s body under the shoulder, allowing Jimenez to keep turning out of the arm bar.

In the blue circle on top you’ll notice Galvao reinforcing the position by hooking onto Jimenez’s head. This keeps Jimenez’s head down to prevent much of his defense. Now look at the blue circle on bottom. See how Jimenez is pushing Galvao’s leg away, disconnecting the leg from Jimenez’s neck? This allows him to turn out and escape.

The arm bar tears tissue in the elbow and to really get a good one you need to manage your opponent’s shoulder position. If they can move their shoulder, they can rotate their arm, take tension off the elbow, and escape like Jimenez did early in the match.

But, when you control your opponent’s upper arm, neck, and shoulder they cannot rotate their arm and the elbow absorbs the force of the submission before breaking to bits. That’s exactly what happened with Galvao’s last arm bar attempt.

Before this match, Galvao showed simple precise guard passing anyone can emulate.

Galvao’s first match was against 10th Planet stand out Jon “Thor” Blank. Thor sat to guard and Galvao was happy to hop around him and score guard passes.

Nothing complicated nor overly fancy. Just a white belt move with Black belt timing. But to cement the victory Galvao got a bit more acrobatic.

Againt, not particularly complicated. Just direct with no fat on the technique.

Mica Galvao is special. He’s won everything there is to win in adult Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition. That means a gold medal from the IBJJF Worlds, Pan Americans, Euorpeans, and ADCC World Championships and nearly an 80% submission rate across gi and no gi competition.

Oh and he’s only 21.

Galvao is a freak. No two ways about it.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study him.

Galvao is the only athlete consistently using over hooks and wide legs to launch into arm bars. He can get away with this partly because he’s flexible, but also because he holds onto the upper arm so tightly his opponents cannot turn their elbows to escape. That’s something anyone can try.

This weekend another grappling freak returns to the UFC. Former three time NCAA Wrestling Champion and U23 Freestyle Wrestling World Champion Bo Nickal is fighting Reinier De Ridder.

Nickal is one of the most credentialed wrestlers to ever fight in MMA. But that doesn’t mean his style of grappling is what works best in MMA.