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Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Marcelo Garcia rose to the upper echelon of his sport without the need to take some pharmaceutical enhancements.
The issue of the prevalent use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDS) in grappling has plagued 'The Gentle Art' for years.
As grappling becomes more accepted in the mainstream, the rampant use of steroids, especially at the highest levels, has somewhat become a grey area.
Speaking with renowned combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani, Garcia addressed this alarming trend and shared why athletes can still rise to the top of the sport without ever touching those kinds of substances:
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"Nobody ever told me to even use that, so I was lucky there. I never felt like I needed that either, because I thought I was a big kid. Today, I'm not a big kid anymore."
The pound-for-pound best BJJ competitor of all time added:
"Today, I'm a small adult. Based on all my results, I feel like I don't need that. But at the same time, growing up, I was in the gym all day."
Marcelo Garcia will end his retirement at ONE 170 on Jan. 24, where he'll face Masakazu Imanari in an openweight submission grappling contest at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
Marcelo Garcia says it's too risky to trade leg-locks with Masakazu Imanari
Marcelo Garcia will duke it out with the grappler responsible for arguably the most used leg-lock entry in the game, the 'Imanari roll'.
While 'Marcelinho' is also a BJJ innovator himself, he remains cautious of playing into Masakazu Imanari's game.
Once he gets into those risky 50-50 positions, Garcia admitted that he'd rather not engage in a leg-lock battle with the Japanese star.
The Brazilian icon said in the same interview:
"Just so people know, I'm pretty open about that. I don't like to exchange like a foot-ankle lock attack. I feel like it's almost a fifty percent chance."
Watch the full episode of The Ariel Helwani show featuring Marcelo Garcia in its entirety:
