Marcelo Garcia recently explained the tactics and concepts that he uses to be able to pass anyone’s guard in no gi competition and the information is truly invaluable. Garcia is known for his success in no gi competition as one of the most successful ADCC world champions in history and it all started with his breakthrough year in 2003 that saw him win his weightclass on his very first attempt and earn a bronze medal in the absolute division despite competing at 77kg. That year alone would’ve been enough to secure Garcia’s legacy but he continued his fantastic performances in the absolute division over the next six years to earn his place as one of the greatest giant-killers of the sport.
Throughout his time spent at the top of the sport, Marcelo Garcia was most well-known for his elite butterfly guard and he used it to defeat opponents of all sizes in both gi and no gi competition. That wasn’t his only tool however and he also showed that he was able to dominate from top position just as well as he was from the bottom, passing guard with ease against the best grapplers on the planet time and time again. While many of the aspects of Jiu-Jitsu remain the same regardless of whether you’re wearing a gi or not, guard passing is not one of them.
The main difference between gi and no gi is obviously the grips that are used and this has a huge impact on guard passing, because the grips used in the gi allow for much more stability. Marcelo Garcia shared some of the secrets of his Jiu-Jitsu and explained how to pass anyone’s guard in no gi competition in a recent video uploaded to the official YouTube channel of BJJ Fanatics founder Bernardo Faria:
