Marcelo Garcia

• Full Name: Marcelo “Marcelinho” Garcia
• Birthday: January 17, 1983
• Affiliation: Alliance Jiu Jitsu

Marcelo Garcia is a renowned Jiu-Jitsu born on January 17, 1983 in the town of Formiga in the state Minas Gerais, Brazil. His interest in martial arts began at a young age influenced by 1980’s films such as Karate Kid. Although Jiu-Jitsu classes were not available in the small town of Formiga, this did not dent his ambition to start practicing Karate at the tender age of eight.

Kata Rigidity Doubts

For the next few years, Garcia practiced and honed his mastery of the Kata fighting technique. However, he began doubting the suitability and applicability of Kata’s rigid fighting style in real world situations. As a result, hestopped practicing Karate after four years and cooled his heels for until one year later a friend invited him to attend a Judo class taught by Judoka Fabiano de Souza. Though still unsold on the idea of grappling, Garcia decided to give martial arts another jab. Over time, Garcia’s love of martial arts grew as he racked up wins at tournaments. At the same time, he started attending Jiu-Jitsu classes thrice a week at a neighboring town called Devinopolis accompanied by his Judo instructor. However, he realized that his hometown of Formiga did not offer the training opportunities that would propel him to World Champion status after visiting a Gracie Barra academy in the city of Ribeirao Preto (Sao Paolo state). At this academy, he saw fighters using advanced techniques such as “spider.”

Stepping into the Big League

While mulling over relocation, Marcelo attended a state tournament and met Paulo Rezende who invited him to join and train full time at his academy. He accepted and began training four times a day. Shortly thereafter, Rezende enlisted him to fight in the adult absolute division at a tournament although Marcelo was a junior. Despite personal misgivings, he made it to the final where he defeated a much larger opponent in a grueling 45-minute fight.

His confidence elevated, he went on to win the State championship and Mundial before moving to Sao Paolo where he teamed up with BJJ instructor Fabio Gurgel. He entered the Brazilian ADCC trials as an underdog and surprisingly trounced Renzo Gracie and Vitor Ribeiro to emerge the victor. Marcelo also entered and won the World Championships, Submission de Campos, and ADCC again. Having reached the pinnacle of BJJ and Submission Wrestling, Marcelo decided to try mixed martial arts (MMA) and joined the Florida MMA academy. In 2009, he opened his own academy in New York and declared during a March 2010 interview that he was done with MMA and returning to BJJ. The same year, he won the World Championships. In 2011, Marcelo awarded two of his academy’s students (Josh Waitzkin and Alexander Meadows) black belts. Since then, his academy has become the premier grappling school in the world.

Conclusion

Marcelo Garcia is a legendary grappler and Jiu-Jitsu who has won numerous titles and accolades including the ADCC, Pan-Am Champion, World Champion, and Brazilian National Champion. His favorite submission techniques include Guillotine, Arm-Drag, and X-Guard.

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