Growing up in a small town in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, nothing came easy for Andre Galvao. As a child, Andre's father lost his job which made life hard on the family of eight. No matter the set backs, their family always kept God close to their hearts.

Andre had worked hard to support his family but needed an escape from the day-to-day pressures. Galvao found his release in Jiu Jitsu after attending a class with his brother in 1999; Andre was just 17 at the time.

"I asked my father if I could quit my job to start in Jiu Jitstu. He said yes. It made me feel so happy that I had my father's blessings. This is when I started training hard every single day to become a Jiu Jitsu champion."

Honing his skills under Luiz "Careca" Dagmar for his first two years, Andre began his journey to becoming a Jiu Jitsu world champion. Andre's first big win came as a blue belt in the Brazilian Championships.

"The guy was almost 330 pounds and I was 165 pounds. I ended up beating him and because of that victory a lot people starting looking and watching me and my fights after that."

After training under Dagmar for two years, he made the move to Sao Paulo to train under famed Jiu Jitsu instructor Fernando Augusto. During his training, Andre amassed many Jiu Jitsu titles but wanted to compete in the fast growing world of Mixed Martial Arts. Andre can remember back before he started training watching the early UFC's.

"Before I started to train Jiu Jitsu, I would watch a lot of Royce Gracie's fights in UFC and that would make me think about the power of Jiu Jitsu. Seeing Royce defeat much large men instantly made me a fan."

After winning all the major titles in Jiu Jistu, Andre felt it was time to tackle the world of MMA. Andre's first fight came against Jeremiah Metcalf in an event called "Fighting For Kidz". Andre was dropped a couple of times by Metcalf but was able to pull off a second round submission via armbar. After pulling out two more wins, including a first round armbar victory over John Alessio at Dream's welterweight Grand Prix, Andre awaits his next opponent.

When it comes to training, Andre feels training for MMA takes much more intensity than Jiu Jitsu.

"I really love to train both MMA and Jiu Jitsu but the MMA training is more intense and more fun. I think it's because I need to learn all different kinds of martial art styles. That's what makes it more exciting to train MMA."

Andre's exercise ball work outs have become a must see on YouTube for all Jiu Jitsu and MMA fans. Andre uses the ball to increase his reaction time, stability and power.

"It's so good for balance and stability because the ball moves when you move. The ball reacts depending on how you move. This is great for your core strength and power."

Working with the Nogueira brothers and Anderson Silva, just to name a few of Andre's training partners, he looks to take the Dream welterweight Grand Prix Title. Galvao is under contract with the Strikeforce promotion which allowed him to compete in Dream's Grand Prix. U.S. fans should look forward to seeing Galavo in action in up-coming Strikeforce cards.