Porto Alegre to San Diego: The Early Competitive Foundation
Crixel's entry into competitive jiu-jitsu was shaped by two black belts — Gustavo and Guilherme Campos — at the Getho Academy in Porto Alegre. Through them, he discovered the sporting dimension of BJJ and developed a competitive appetite that would carry him around the world. Getho Academy's affiliation with Atos opened a critical door: access to training camps at the Atos headquarters in San Diego, California, where Crixel trained alongside and under André Galvão. That relationship proved especially formative for his no-gi game, delivering both technical refinement and exposure to an elite competitive environment.
New York to São Paulo: Finding a Permanent Home
As a purple belt, Crixel made a pivotal move to New York City to train with João Miyao and Paulo Miyao at Unity Academy. The time with the Miyao brothers sharpened his technique and forged a connection to their original coach, Cicero Costha, and the PSLPB system that would eventually become his permanent home.
Before making that final move, Crixel returned to Brazil to train with Pedro Marocco — a relationship that grew into one of the most influential of his career. Marocco reintroduced the principles of traditional martial arts into Crixel's jiu-jitsu at a moment when he had begun to view BJJ as a purely athletic pursuit. That philosophical reorientation proved transformative, reconnecting the competitive grappler with the traditional martial artist he had always been.
In 2017, Crixel relocated to São Paulo to join Cicero Costha's PSLPB Academy full-time. He described the environment as unlike anything he had previously experienced. Under Costha's direction, he earned his brown belt and, in June 2019, received his black belt — a promotion that came directly on the heels of three world championship titles at brown belt.