Marcelo Garcia

Marcelo Garcia (born January 17, 1983) is a Brazilian submission grappler, a 5th degree black belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and coach. A highly decorated competitor, Garcia is widely considered to be one of the greatest submission grapplers of all time, and one of the pound for pound greatest of his era. Holding 5 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship and 4 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship titles, and the third BJJ athlete to be inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame.

Marcelo is widely known for his innovation of various techniques such as X-Guard, arm-drags and high wrist guillotines which became popular following his success in high level completion, influencing the grappling world for the years following.

Early life Marcelo Garcia was born on 17 January 1983 in Formiga, Minas Gerais a small city in southeast Brazil. before receiving his black belt from Fabio Gurgel who he trained with in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Career At K-1 HERO'S Korea 2007, Garcia made his MMA debut. He lost this against Dae Won Kim twenty seconds into the second round by doctor's stoppage, due to a cut above his eye. In September 2009, Garcia opened an academy in Manhattan, New York City. In November 2011, Garcia retired from competition, that same year he became the third person to be inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame as a result of his record-setting four gold medals in his own weight division and his performances in the absolute division.

Garcia later opened the first Marcelo Garcia academy in Hawaii in 2024.

Return Garcia announced on November 11, 2024 that he had signed an exclusive contract with ONE Championship to make his return to professional grappling at one of their events.

Garcia competed against Masakazu Imanari at ONE 170 on January 24, 2025. He won the match by submission with a north-south choke.

Health On January 19, 2023, Garcia revealed that he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer and would undergo chemotherapy and surgery to remove the tumour. After months of treatment and a successful surgery, Garcia had made a recovery.

Instructor lineage Mitsuyo "Count Koma" Maeda → Carlos Gracie Sr. → Helio Gracie → Rolls Gracie → Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti → Fabio Gurgel → Marcelo Garcia He has many submission grappling titles, including the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. At ADCC, Garcia has won the 66–76 kg division four times (2003/2005/2007/2011), been awarded the most technical fighter twice (2003 and 2007) and won the best fight award in 2005. In 2005, he finished in third place in the absolute (open weight) division and in 2007 finished second in the absolute division. In ADCC 2009, Garcia finished second in his weight division, losing by points to Pablo Popovitch, whom he had defeated in the two previous finals.

Grappling

2011 ADCC World Championship (-77 kg) IBJJF World Championship (-82 kg) 2010 IBJJF World Championship (-82 kg) 2009 ADCC World Championship (-77 kg) IBJJF World Championship (-82 kg) ACBJJ World Cup (Absolute) ACBJJ World Cup (-75 kg) 2007 ADCC World Championship (Absolute) ADCC World Championship (-77 kg) Grapplers Quest: Beast of the East (Superfight Tournament) IBJJF Pan American Championship (-82 kg) 2006 PSL: X-Mission Superfight Winner IBJJF World Championship (Absolute) IBJJF World Championship (-82 kg) PSL: LA-Sub Superfight Winner CBJJ Brazilian National Championship (Absolute) CBJJ Brazilian National Championship (-82 kg) 2005 Arnold Gracie Pro ADCC World Championship (Absolute) ADCC World Championship (-77 kg) 2004 Arnold Gracie Pro IBJJF World Championship (Absolute) IBJJF World Championship (-82 kg) CBJJ Brazilian National Championship (Absolute) CBJJ Brazilian National Championship (-82 kg) Campos Submission Wrestling 3 (Absolute) Campos Submission Wrestling 3 (-88 kg) 2003 ADCC World Championship (-77 kg) IBJJF World Championship (-82 kg) Loss

Kim Dae-Won TKO (cut) Hero's 2007

Seoul, South Korea