as a way of making money. It’s the old-school way to learn MMA, to buy DVDs and study your heroes, to go to seminars.
“While you’re learning what he’s BEEN doing, the old stuff, he’s pulling out new stuff. Stuff people haven’t seen, now he’s got so many ways to get an omoplata and a guillotine and a crucifix, they are the big things his latest set focused on. There were three or four DVDs on the omoplata alone, I didn’t realize there were so many variations. He’s revolutionized different positions. While you’re trying to figure out what he did, he’s moved on to two and three more positions. He had everything mapped out in his head already.
“Last time I rolled with him, it was all new crazy shit I’d never seen. He tapped me three times with the same move, and I can’t even figure out what it was. I thought it was a fluke at first. Then I saw some pictures, and he taught it the next day at the seminar: an omoplata with one leg to finish, the monoplata. I knew what it was and thought, Oh he’s not getting me with this, so I countered but he shifted to a variation of the triangle armbar, and it was crazy. I had nowhere to go. Now I do it at our gym and blow people’s minds. They make me show them what it was, because it’s a wild thing. And I’d watched all his DVDs and his matches and never seen it.
“He’s not strong or superfast—he’s got solid athleticism in all areas. His mind is better. He causes scrambles, but it’s all calculated, his mind moves so fast he KNOWS what you’re going to try and do. He knows your options. He’s a solid athlete, but its not that. He causes scrambles and causes you to think when he already knows what’s going on. You’re moving so fast without thinking that you walk right into stuff. He caught me with something three times and I should have figured it out. But he makes everything happen so fast, from different angles and different positions. You don’t figure it’s the same move. You think you’re doing good and then you’re tapping. There were times when he had me in stuff and I was still fighting—I didn’t even realize he had me. I didn’t know I was in a submission. He was just holding me.”
It all makes Mike laugh.
“I wouldn’t have thought anybody his size could tap me the way he taps me. The highlight of me rolling with him was I almost got hold of his leg and put his back on the ground.” Mike laughed again. “I almost got to half-guard. He’s like a ball, when you try to put him on his back, he never settles for a position. He’s always got his legs in, elevating, working under you. I’ve never seen him in closed guard looking for something. He’s always moving, causing scrambles. He’s the king of scrambles.”
Marcelo is also known as not only the nicest guy in the game, but he is jokingly referred to as maybe the nicest guy on earth. So many fighters and jiu-jitsu guys I talked to confided in me that Marcelo was their best friend that it became comical. Everybody is his best friend. From the first time I met him he lived up to that billing, smiling, gracious, warm, and sincerely interested in what I was trying to do. He’s got a round face, wreathed in smiles, and narrow eyes.
I am a little in awe of Marcelo, and some of that admittedly comes from my inexperience. I’m a low-level grappler and when I see what he does to the high-level guys I find it a little incredible.
So here I was, finally sitting down to lunch with Marcelo, and as we started talking he wanted to make one thing very clear in his thick Brazilian accent: he’s not so special.
“Why do I beat a lot of people? Because I love it so much, that’s why. Everything about jiu-jitsu, I love it—the school, the mat, the ring. I always believe that. Maybe I am not better than my opponent, but I know for sure I love my training more.” He smiled at me. It was all so simple. The birds chirping, the sun shining down around us in suburban Florida,
“While you’re learning what he’s BEEN doing, the old stuff, he’s pulling out new stuff. Stuff people haven’t seen, now he’s got so many ways to get an omoplata and a guillotine and a crucifix, they are the big things his latest set focused on. There were three or four DVDs on the omoplata alone, I didn’t realize there were so many variations. He’s revolutionized different positions. While you’re trying to figure out what he did, he’s moved on to two and three more positions. He had everything mapped out in his head already.
“Last time I rolled with him, it was all new crazy shit I’d never seen. He tapped me three times with the same move, and I can’t even figure out what it was. I thought it was a fluke at first. Then I saw some pictures, and he taught it the next day at the seminar: an omoplata with one leg to finish, the monoplata. I knew what it was and thought, Oh he’s not getting me with this, so I countered but he shifted to a variation of the triangle armbar, and it was crazy. I had nowhere to go. Now I do it at our gym and blow people’s minds. They make me show them what it was, because it’s a wild thing. And I’d watched all his DVDs and his matches and never seen it.
“He’s not strong or superfast—he’s got solid athleticism in all areas. His mind is better. He causes scrambles, but it’s all calculated, his mind moves so fast he KNOWS what you’re going to try and do. He knows your options. He’s a solid athlete, but its not that. He causes scrambles and causes you to think when he already knows what’s going on. You’re moving so fast without thinking that you walk right into stuff. He caught me with something three times and I should have figured it out. But he makes everything happen so fast, from different angles and different positions. You don’t figure it’s the same move. You think you’re doing good and then you’re tapping. There were times when he had me in stuff and I was still fighting—I didn’t even realize he had me. I didn’t know I was in a submission. He was just holding me.”
It all makes Mike laugh.
“I wouldn’t have thought anybody his size could tap me the way he taps me. The highlight of me rolling with him was I almost got hold of his leg and put his back on the ground.” Mike laughed again. “I almost got to half-guard. He’s like a ball, when you try to put him on his back, he never settles for a position. He’s always got his legs in, elevating, working under you. I’ve never seen him in closed guard looking for something. He’s always moving, causing scrambles. He’s the king of scrambles.”
Marcelo is also known as not only the nicest guy in the game, but he is jokingly referred to as maybe the nicest guy on earth. So many fighters and jiu-jitsu guys I talked to confided in me that Marcelo was their best friend that it became comical. Everybody is his best friend. From the first time I met him he lived up to that billing, smiling, gracious, warm, and sincerely interested in what I was trying to do. He’s got a round face, wreathed in smiles, and narrow eyes.
I am a little in awe of Marcelo, and some of that admittedly comes from my inexperience. I’m a low-level grappler and when I see what he does to the high-level guys I find it a little incredible.
So here I was, finally sitting down to lunch with Marcelo, and as we started talking he wanted to make one thing very clear in his thick Brazilian accent: he’s not so special.
“Why do I beat a lot of people? Because I love it so much, that’s why. Everything about jiu-jitsu, I love it—the school, the mat, the ring. I always believe that. Maybe I am not better than my opponent, but I know for sure I love my training more.” He smiled at me. It was all so simple. The birds chirping, the sun shining down around us in suburban Florida,
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