At only 22 years old, Marcio Andre is one of the most celebrated up-and-comers in the game. Last month at the prestigious IBJJF Europeans, Andre closed out his category with teammate Luan Carvalho, finishing two of his three matches. 

WATCH:
• Marcio Andre vs. Royi Neeman 
• Marcio Andre vs. Oliver Lovell 
• Marcio Andre vs. Andris Brunovskis

During the semifinal against Atos black belt Andris Brunovskis of the United States, Andre surprised everyone by locking on a triangle without using his opponent's arm. The submission shocked the Lisbon, Portugal, crowd. 


The victory put him in the final and earned him his third black belt European title in a row (he won 2015 and 2016 as a featherweight). The Europeans are considered one of the toughest IBJJF championships of the year and draw athletes from around the globe. 

This was Andre's first time competing at the Europeans in the 76kg/168lb division. He had already moved up a weight class at last year's No-Gi Worlds, taking lightweight gold. 

WATCH: Marcio Andre Goes 48-0 And Hits A Submission

Cutting weight is never fun and Andre wanted to move away from this, but he feels the move up in weight has allowed him to further his already aggressive game. 

When I was featherweight I lost a lot of weight to compete in the tournaments," he said. "I'm still losing some weight, but it's a lot less than before. I can open up my game much more and this is also due to my wife Brenda Heller, with whom I have been training more submissions. She pushes me to have the attitude to finish, and I'm so dedicating myself to it.

One of the highlight moments of the tournament was the aforementioned no-arm triangle against Brunovskis, an unusual finishing move Andre says he's been working on for a while. 

I like it when the athlete tries to turn me over, I feel very confident in this position," Andre said. "I have been practicing it for a long time in training, but when I have the opportunity I try and it usually works, especially because people don't believe in it. It's important to keep the grips strong and the hips loose.

Andre is one of the few high-level athletes representing Nova Uniao on the world stage. Ten to 15 years ago, the team was a fixture on the podium of the biggest jiu-jitsu events in the world, but there came a gradual shift as the majority of their representatives switched to MMA. 

By flying the Nova Uniao flag, Andre hopes others will be inspired to follow in his footsteps. And if his plans come to fruition, the exposure he'll receive should go a long way to achieving that. 

His plan is nothing less than three world titles in the next three years. He took silver at last year's World Championships following a back-and-forth battle with six-time world champ Rafael Mendes.  

WATCH: Marcio Andre vs. Rafael Mendes IBJJF 2016 Worlds 

I see myself with three world titles, and I'm already thinking about setting up my gym," he said. "I want to compete lot.

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