In 2009, some of the world’s strongest grapplers were fighting for the opportunity to take part in that year’s edition of the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. As a part of the trials set in Brazil, two giants living different points in their careers came face to face in the 88kg division: André Galvão and Rodolfo Vieira.
André, already a two-time BJJ world champion, took on a brown-belt Rodolfo, who was just months away from breaking through on the international scene.
The duel began with André pulling and coming up, forcing Rodolfo to work as a guard player for most of the time. At the end, Galvão claimed the win and his place in the big one, eventually taking silver in Spain.
Watch these legends go at it right here, in a video by our friends at X-Combat: