As the popularity of no-gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grows, many feel like traditional Jiu-Jitsu – the one fought in the gi – is slowly decaying away… And so does Mica Galvao.
The young phenom, however, isn’t content with watching traditional Jiu-Jitsu fade away.
As a matter of fact, he turned down two match proposals from the WNO because he wanted to compete in the gi.
Here are his thoughts, revealed in a recent social media post [translated from Portuguese]:
I was invited to this event [February 25 WNO event], but I refused despite receiving a good offer.
After turning down I was invited to the April event and once again I declined again.The reason is simple: I want to fight in the gi, in WNO rules, against a top athlete in my category.
But the production thinks kimono fights don’t sell.
He went on to congratulate Gordon Ryan for his recent success, in signing a 7-figure contract with FloSports.
However, at the same time, it also makes the problem of traditional Jiu-Jitsu even more apparent:
The money paid for the top champions isn’t even 10% of the amount Gordon announced for a grappling match.
I’m not talking about athletes who are still running behind, I’m talking about athletes who are gi idols and who earn much lower values than grappling athletes.
So, if grappling makes money and gi stays away from this, I don’t think the sport (JIUJITSU) is growing.
At the end of it all, Mica Galvao feels responsible to keep gi Jiu-Jitsu alive:
As the highest reaching athlete of the new generation, I feel responsible to not let tradition die, nor to be devalued and treated like second division.
I could go over there [and compete in no-gi] and easily make my money too, but I put myself in this responsibility.
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