The Parable of Marcelo Garcia

02/16/22 • 28 min

"I wasn't a good student, and even now I never say I am better than anybody, but I know I love jiu-jitsu more than anybody." - Marcelo Garcia. 2010.
Flashback to May of 2007. The legendary Marcelo Garcia is a 2x ADCC champion, and more importantly is The People's Champ. He's on a quest to get double gold medals at his 3rd ADCC. 3rd time's the charm--he's submitted all 7 of 7 opponents in regulation on his way to the Absolute Finals, and he's the smallest man by 24 lbs / 11kgs to get this far (and to this day, no one else has accomplished either feat.) We are about to see the single greatest display in the history of submission grappling. And yet...Marcelo falls short of Absolute Gold and loses by submission to Robert Drysdale.
When Marcelo was asked what he could have done different, he smiled and said simply, "I need to be faster." Marcelo also joked and said he actually did have 8 for 8 submissions for the weekend...if you included the one where he himself tapped! He could've made so many excuses, but instead he made none while also not taking himself too seriously.
I always loved this story, as told by Josh Waitzkin and Sam Sheridan in The Fighter's Mind. Josh was Marcelo's 1st black belt, and the subject of the film, Searching for Bobby Fischer, about his time as a young chess prodigy.
Josh states, "Marcelo doesn't think in shades of grey. Everything is black and white...I'm more of a grey-type guy, so it can be frustrating, because at times Marcelo seems overly simple. But it's incredibly powerful...In the chess world, there were plenty of guys like him who I envied, guys with pure clarity and no existential dilemmas, without angst..."
We all could be a little more like Marcelo Garcia. =)
Whether it's on the mats, or in life, relationships, family/friends, careers, etc, I appreciate the beauty and simplicity of this type of thinking. It doesn't come naturally to me, but I want to take the next month to strive to find one through-line or theme where I think I can improve in in Jiu-Jitsu, relationships, career goals, family, friends, etc, and pursue that one theme in each of those areas.
And even if we can't be like him on the mats, we can borrow a valuable method that he uses to solve problems in order to improve our own lives. I also find it admirable that Marcelo went out on his shield, and I've noticed in my own life that I could stand to take more risks.
Big shout outs to Riccardo Ammendolia for his historical highlights and analysis of Marcelo Garcia! I watched some of the footage below in researching this episode. PS. This is the first but certainly not the last time we will talk about Marcelo on this podcast!
- Video essay exploring Marcelo Garcia's overall ADCC greatness: https://youtu.be/c6it1SsW8TI
- Marcelo's historic RNC over Shaolin at ADCC 2003: https://youtu.be/X_8O-fq-NI4
- Highlight of all of Marcelo's 2005 ADCC Matches: https://youtu.be/sia_yuGN5qI
- Highlight of all of Marcelo's 2007 ADCC Matches: https://youtu.be/j-ZbtfIfUtY
- Marcelo's ADCC 2007 Absolute Finals loss: https://youtu.be/OQzpE8kiZtE?t=8
- Marcelo Garcia Highlight video by Rob Degle: https://youtu.be/5fV7YYgE9OM
- Amazon Link to The Fighter's Mind & The Art of Learning: https://tinyurl.com/bdej6r5z & https://tinyurl.com/yckzyby5)

Previous Episode

Guillotine Deep Dive (Part 2) + Updates on the Podcast

In part 2 of our deep dive into the guillotine position, we cover 5 practical tips that you can use to hit more guillotines. Regardless of what style guillotine you prefer (high-wrist, high-elbow, arm-in, etc), you should be able to implement all 5 of these concepts to submit more people with the guillotine, as well as use it as a robust position to help you advance to other great movements, techniques, and positions.
There is another Google Doc here as well as an Instagram and Reddit post with video examples of some of the concepts discussed here. If you didn't listen to last week's episode, I recommend listening to that for a breakdown of all the primary styles of guillotine, as well as watching the companion footage of those guillotines in action. Big shout outs to Cody Maltais, David Porter, Matt Skaff, Brandon 'BMac' Mccaghren, and Ryan Hall for a lot of the concepts discussed in this episode. Big shoutout to John Salter and Joe Solecki for forcing me to sharpen up guillotine offense.
New Google Doc for Part 2: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qqggqOJZp1uAq9XervTrGy6yMTocHLLhArwmatxS92U/
New Reddit post for Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/bjj/comments/smorf1/part_2_of_the_guillotine_deep_dive_podcast/
Instagram Link: https://www.instagram.com/drewdarce/

Next Episode

Expand Your Offensive Toolkit by Keeping Your Opponent in a 'Submission Cycle'

Today's episode is inspired by Ethan Crelinsten (B-Team athlete/instructor and John Danaher black belt). I had the opportunity to train with Ethan and get some rolls in during March of 2021. The thing that stood out the most was Ethan would fully lock up subs on everyone, and then let go and move to another submission or offensive transition.
There are 3 critical skills for getting great at submissions, and here we are focused on #2.
1. Moving from static positions into submissions.
2. Moving from submissions to other submissions.
3. Precise finishing mechanics for different submissions.
There are lots of benefits to training this way. We get more mat hours logged on offense in a specific area that is often neglected. It helps us develop creativity and see doorways between different subs that we might not see otherwise. This can also be a great tool for us if we are tired, because we don't have to reset the round and then find our way back to another situation where we are firmly in the driver's seat.
Unfortunately, I don't have any footage of Ethan rolling in that manner during that day, but I did want to post some awesome rolling footage of Ethan, where you can see his hyper-offensive style in action. He has a great blend of positional dominance while always hunting the submission. The first 2 links are from rolls filmed this month at B-Team, and the 3rd link is on my list for most slept on matches of the 2010's, Ethan vs Jon Blank at Show The Art Finishers. Also, you can listen to Ethan Crelinsten on Tom Halpin's newest episode of Inside Position: https://www.insidepositionpodcast.com/e/s1e19/

Ethan rolling #1 (Flo account required): https://tinyurl.com/2p88uukf
Ethan rolling #2 (2022): https://youtu.be/YIMwa4GkC_E
Ethan rolling #3 (2022): https://youtu.be/692WtHjtvrg
Ethan vs Jon Blank (2018): https://youtu.be/3cIAQ9j0yfU
For lots more upcoming rolling footage from Ethan, check out Goldtown MMA's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9JctPD4O9rtiskhh2TkAEw/videos