How The Best In The World Grapples In A Cage

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Everyone’s favorite grappler Marcelo Garcia returned from beating cancer this weekend. We’re going to analyze how he dominated Masakazu Imanari and why it’s important for MMA grappling specifically.

In the premium section we’ll be doing a deep dive on north south chokes to explain why Garcia prefers them to rear naked chokes.

Let’s get into it.

Marcelo Garcia is universally regarded as one of the best grapplers of all time.

Garcia competed at around 77 and 82 kilograms for the majority of his career. He still routinely chose to enter the absolute division against massive heavyweights. Garcia even took second place at ADCC’s 2007 absolute division after submitting everyone else he went against.

But Garcia has been inactive for 13 years. So when ONE Championship announced they signed him, many wondered what he would look like after so much time away.

From the second Garcia locked up with Masakazu Imanari it looked like he had never left.

Marcelo Garcia started the match by pressuring Masakazu Imanari. He took the center of the cage and Imanari looked to play possum along the fence.

This might look like a minute detail but I can assure you this a big deal for grappling in a cage.

MMA grappling has largely moved away from Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Instead of playing guard many fighters are just turning over to shake their opponents off and stand up.

Other counter grappling in MMA relies on using the cage to change the dynamics of exchanges. Let’s take a look at two sequences from Jack Della Maddalena’s fight with Bassil Hafez.

Now let’s look at what happened in this fight when they grappled in open space.

What does this have to do with Garcia and Imanari?

Garcia lost his only MMA fight. Imanari has more than 60 fights. He has decades more experience grappling in a cage than Garcia. To avoid playing Imanari’s game, Garcia took him off the cage so they would have to grapple in open space.

Half guard is kind of a misnomer. It can be a pin as much as it can be a guard. By landing in half guard, Garcia can pin Imanari and Imanari can not turn over to try to make space.

Just for the record, Garcia is one of the best back attackers ever. I’m not saying it would be wise to turn away from him, just that landing in chest to chest half guard forced Imanari to take all of his pressure weight.

Imanari responded by doing everything he could to stall Garcia from bottom.

Once Garcia passed guard Imanari was just fighting for his life.

Once Garcia had Imanari’s neck he never gave it back to him.

Marcelo Garcia is peerless. He won the IBJJF Gi World Championships 5 times, ADCC World Championships 4 times, and he’s never been submitted by anyone in his weight class. The way he played no gi completely revolutionized the sport.

But that’s not why Garcia is universally revered. People adore Garcia because he genuinely loves to compete and use his platform for more than himself.

In Garcia’s post match interview he was asked a simple question. How does it feel to come back to the sport after 13 years? Garcia suffered injuries, fought cancer, and lost a son. Before speaking Garcia was fighting back tears. But when he opened his mouth, it was clear they were tears of joy.

Garcia was elated, happy to compete and show his children they can chase their dreams. Then he told the audience to share their problems with their community. Get help. Get love. Then you can focus on getting better with the people around you that want to support you.

How can you not love the is guy?