Marcelo Garcia is one of the greatest competitors in BJJ history, so naturally he would have some very valuable advice to anyone looking to follow in his footsteps. Garcia burst on to the scene not long after he was promoted to black belt in 2003, and nobody would have predicted just how successful he would be prior to that. He had a decent result at ADCC Trials that year but he wasn’t able to win the tournament, which meant that he was going to have sit out ADCC 2003. His fortune changed when he was called in as a late replacement and he entered the 77kg division, where he defeated BJJ legend Renzo Gracie and won the first of several ADCC titles.
Garcia went on to win three more titles alongside a bronze medal and two silver medals, cementing his legacy as one the most successful competitors in ADCC history. That success is what led to him becoming a member of the inaugural class of the ADCC Hall of Fame. Although Garcia beat all of the best grapplers of his generation at his weight, he was also known for stepping up to compete in the absolute as well. Between his ability to beat bigger opponents and his high finishing-rate, Marcelo Garcia is one of the best competitors for the current generation to take advice from.
FloGrappling shared the full interview with Marcelo Garcia where he shares his advice for competitors today in a recent post to their official Instagram account, and a transcript of it can be found here:
“I wanna go there and give everything I have. When I say everything I have, like I don’t wanna let no-one decide my match. I don’t wanna let no-one decide the course of my life, because every time I’m there I used to have the feeling that like ‘OK, this is gonna change my life.’ This is my like job interview right now, I’ve gotta go over there and give my best. So when I go over there; even (if) I kinda like recognise the referee, even (if) I know like the person, the person reffed my match before, I don’t want him to be responsible to give me the match. I wanna go there and I wanna be responsible to win the match, and I don’t wanna even like wait to the end of the match. If I have a chance, you must be responsible to try and finish the match. You don’t wanna be like ‘oh but the referee should have given…’ No. You are responsible. Don’t wait till nobody gives you the win. You need to go over there to try and finish. That’s what I did and that’s kinda the only advice that I feel is solid that I can give to whoever is competing today.”
