Photo Credit: Mike Calimbas Photography ,  https://www.facebook.com/DSLRmike

At 37 years old, Brazilian JiuJitsu NOGI World Champion Mike Kalika doesn’t make excuses. Working as a full time paramedic, being married with two kids, and competing on a consistent basis could be a challenge for anyone but for Mike its just another day at the office.

Mike is at the top of his game in BJJ and at age 37, that is no easy matter. But even before Brazilian Jiu Jitsu he had started training Greco Roman wrestling at the age of 6 years old in Russia, where he was born. Each day after school, he would travel to the practice and train. The use of power and technique had him hooked from the very beginning and has giving him great foundation in grappling art .He has continued training for over 9 years.
Now having made his home in the USA, he considers his family, wife and 2 kids his greatest accomplishment.

In terms of his competitive accomplishments, Mike says, “Winning is always wonderful and satisfying but I’ve learned something about myself: losing is sometimes more valuable”. He believes that failure is a huge part of life, and states that he has learned more from his failures as he feels that they drive him to work harder, train harder for that next win.

Photo Credit: Mike Calimbas Photography , https://www.facebook.com/DSLRmike

Mike is a man who believes in balance. He doesn’t like wasting excess energy in any aspect of what he does, whether it be for his job as a Supervisor of Emergency Medical Services or in his BJJ training or any other obstacles in life.  He credits all the people behind the scenes that help him achieve his goals saying “Often all you see in a competition is the athlete themselves, not all the people who have put in their own time and effort and support to help one succeed. My family, Fabio, Babs and all my training partners at Team Fabio Clemente share equally in my competitive wins”.

And when he does win, he enjoys it for a time, and then he sets out to work harder, train harder, to be better.

Name Mike Kalika
Age: 37
Trains at Team Fabio Clemente under Fabio Clemente and Babs Olusanmokun
Accomplishments:
2015 (purple belt)
-World NoGi Champion –
-Bjj Pro Champion division/Bronze open weight
-Pan NoGi Champion
-Mutiple IBJJF Champion
2016 (brown belt)
-Pan Am silver medalist
-Pan NoGi Champion
-World NoGi Absolute Champion/bronze medalist division
-Multiple IBJJF Champion

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