Garcia's current submission game has a lot of elements that seem very unworkable in a striking situation. But over the years, as people adapted to his game he has changed it and evolved it many times. I'm sure that if he decided to train for mma, he'd adapt and evolve his game to reflect that, and someone with his obvious athletic gifts, adaptability, composure and skill could certainly do well in MMA if he decided he wanted to.
as many have stated (and myself) the major parts of Garcia's game would not serve him well in MMA and would get him pounded. However it is slightly foolish to believe that someone with his skill couldn't adapt.
Garcia has even stated that when he started Bjj so he could fight MMA. Sport Jiu-Jitsu has just been great for him.
Ide say just about anyone who started Bjj with MMA on their mind, and ended up having his kind of success would probly stick to just sport Bjj. I know I would.
Who says he has to start at the top..(pride, ufc level)
IF he started on smaller shows and given the right opponents and built his mma and striking skills just like everyone else gets the chance to.
The only reason great submission fighters don't always do well in mma is because they start at the top.
Saulo's second or third fight was kondo. Any 185er would lose to Kondo in their third fight.
JJ Machado...only fight Frank Trigg oh and lets not forget his hand isn't the best boxing tool.
Let Saulo train and fight in KOTC and see how well he does.
Also I understand that they ask for a lot of money so that is why they fight in pride
"Also I understand that they ask for a lot of money so that is why they fight in pride."
Yea, Pe de Pano wanted shit loads. I wonder what the UFC ended up giving him.
""Saulo shot into a knee on kondo and got cut bad.One fight on one day"
You make it seem like a fluke. Considering what Kondo did to Sperry. I doubt it was. He would have mauled Ribeiro 9/10 times.
JJ Machado is another example aswell."
I did not mean to imply it was a fluke.I meant only what I wrote.
JJ did decent vs an already top veteran MMA fighter in his first MMA fight.I don't know why so many hold BJJ champs to such high standards in MMA.No one has said BJJ makes you invincible since around 95.
I picked Kondo and Trigg to win.It is tough for top fighters in other sports BJJ, kickboxing, wrestling whatever.They tend to jump right into the deep end of ,MMA due to their reputation.Bad idea.Just ask that Nastula(sp) guy in pride.
I'd like to see Garcia fight a couple lower level guys before he does pride or the UFC.The talent is too deep in MMA now for a seemless transition from another sport.But obviously Garcia is a huge talent.With correct training I've no doubt he could do well in MMA.But win at the UFC level? I can't say.I'd worry about him mostly because he seems to nice to be punching people in the face.An evil disposition is underrated.
Marcello Garcia's BJJ is very good for MMA.
There is no guestion about it.
but
When you fight MMA in the end you will get hit by a good solid shot.
so
if he can take a shot and has at least ok chin he would do very well
if he can not take hits and does not have good chin he would do only medicore
Mahoney, you could also argue that Trigg did very well for someone who was in his 5th fight with Machado but that was only his second night at fighting MMA. His first 3 fights and second 2 were in tournaments and that Machado had being doing subs all his life while Trigg was still new to them and that Machado comes from a background and people that had being doing MMA for decades while Trigg and co. were still kinda winging it with what they had at the time.
I'm not trying to take away from JJ at all since he has a style of bjj which is the kind I like (go balls out and submit the guy). I dont think you are trying to pass off what happened to JJ and Saulo as flukes but there are many who have. And to those that still do, considering that Kondo's knee is one of his biggest weapons...
But back to Garcia in MMA: the truth is there is really no way to know how someone would do in MMA without them actually doing it for reasons we all know why. It aint nothing more than speculation. Garica obviously has the skills and tenacity of a champion athlete but perhaps he wont take too well taking leather to his face from someone like Trigg or being fed some of GSP's bows. We simply wouldnt know he or anyone would do until they do it.
Wasa.I realise FCF and other sites list Trigg post long ago and mention in an article that he had many open hand MMA matches way back that people don;t know about.
Also, even his 5th match gives him alot more experience than someone with none.
Ragardless, experience aside.....losing one fight to a feared top 10 fighter is nothing to be ashamed of.
I agree of Gracia.We really don't know.
Wearing the MMA gloves would cut down the efficiency of Garcia's favorite weapon the RNC. He'd have to make adjustments for that as well.
It's really all just speculation, he could be great, mediocre, or terrible at MMA. No way to tell unless he does it.
In his FCF article, he said he had interest in MMA if the price was right, but he'd have to get enough to stop teaching for a while to train properly (Currently, he can train up to 90 or so students at a time and the numbers rise after each high profile win).
He then went on to say he's had virtually no stand-up training- no boixng, no kickboxing, nothing-- and that he was not in a hurry to pick these things up to an already full schedule.
As for wrestling, he says what you see in his grappling bouts is what he has.
DOnt want to see him do mma. I want him to stay in sub grappling, so we all have further opportunity to see this maestro work his magic in the sport he is best at.
He so incredibly good at taking someone's back. What he did to Vitor SHaolin was criminal it was so fast and smooth.
Even better against MVA, Van Arsdale thought he was safe, got distracted by something off the mat for a split second, and bam! Garcia was on his back and it was just a matter of time.
I agree with Sadyv,
I'd rather see him stay with BJJ and sub wrestling than see him have to whittle away his game to deal with strikes and try to learn boxing or kickboxing which would ultimately lead to less time perfecting his BJJ which is like watching Leonardo Da Vinci paint or Mozart play piano.
It is true that a switch to mma doesn't necessarily make sense financially for him. He is the king of sport bjj and submission wrestling right now in a lot of people's eyes so it is smart to stick with the sport you shine in.
Frankly I think the division between mma, SW and sport bjj will widen in terms of who dominates at each one. The specialist always comes out on top in the long run.