FloGrappling contributor Reid Connell recently conducted a two-hour long interview with ADCC legend Marcelo Garcia in New York City. 

The only four-time ADCC champ, Marcelo took Reid on a deep dive into his relationship with ADCC over the years, with in-depth discussion about his runs to the top of the podium and some of his most legendary matches. 

The entire interview with Marcelo will debut on FloGrappling on Wednesday, September 4th at 2:00pm CST and will run through to 8pm. 

Marcelo Garcia burst onto the grappling scene in 2003 ADCC World Championships, winning three out of four matches by rear naked choke on the way to the gold medal. Garcia was actually a late replacement at this event after taking second at the South American trials. Marcelo would go on to retire as one of the most accomplished ADCC competitors in history with four gold medals and a silver in his weight, along with a silver and bronze in the open class. 

The list of legends Marcelo defeated at ADCC over his five times competing at the event is immense. Big names like Xande Ribeiro, Renzo Gracie, Shaolin Ribeiro, Leo Vieira and Kron Gracie would fall to Marcelo throughout the years.

Overall Marcelo’s record was 27-5 at ADCC, but something that grew the legend of Marcelo was not just his success but also his style of fighting and how he won. Not content to just score and grind out a match winning by points, Marcelo incredibly submitted 23 out of 32 opponents in his career at ADCC. That works out to a 72% submission rate, if you look at just his wins he submitted 23 out of 27 victories for a rate of 85%.

Those numbers become even more impressive if you look at the results from just his weight category, where he was dominant with a 19-1 record. 15 of those 19 victories were by submission for a 79% submission rate in his victories that took place in the 77kg division. His lone loss at his weight was by points to Pablo Popovitch in the 2009 final.

Marcelo working on the north-south choke

Marcelo’s favored submissions at ADCC were the RNC and the guillotine. Nine of his victories came by RNC and another seven by guillotine, accounting for 70% of his victories. Two armlocks, two north-south chokes along with one triangle and one wristlock complete the list of submissions by Marcelo at ADCC.

While always a fan favorite and a legend whose name is synonymous with the ADCC World Championships, Marcelo has taken on a new role for this years event. Two of the top athletes from his Manhattan based academy, Gianni Grippo and Matheus Diniz, will be competing at ADCC this year. Both Grippo and Diniz are currently ranked first at 66kg and 88kg respectively in the FloGrappling No-Gi Rankings.

Watch the 2019 ADCC World Championships LIVE or On Demand only on FloGrappling