(Last week’s edition can be found HERE )





In this week’s edition of Match of the Week, I bring you a match between two legends of our sport. The match is Marcelo Garcia vs. Ronaldo "Jacaré" Souza which was a superfight at the 2004 Best Fight Challenge.





Marcelo Garcia (also known as “Marcelinho”) is a black belt under Fabio Gurgel and competes for Alliance Jiu-Jitsu. Since he started in black belt division, Marcelo has been a stand out competitor and a fan favourite at competitions. Marcelo is considered by many to be the pound for pound best grappler in the world today.





Marcelo is an extremely accomplished Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. At the black belt level, he is a five time World Champion (2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011), a four time ADCC Champion (2003, 2005, 2007, 2011), a three time Brazilian National Champion (2004, 2006 weight & absolute), and a one time Pan American Champion (2007). He is also a member of the IBJJF Hall of Fame.





In terms of grappling ability, Marcelo is very well rounded. He is excellent both on his back and on his feet. In particular, Marcelo is best known for his x-guard, butterfly guard and guillotine choke. Over the years, these have been known to become Marcelo's signature moves. What's good about Marcelo is he always hunts for the submission. He doesn't play to win by points or advantages, but instead looks to finish the fight and submit his opponent.





Marcelo Garcia





Ronaldo "Jacaré" Souza is a black belt under Henrique Machado and competed for ASLE (later joined with Master Team). Jacaré is known as one of the best fighters from his generation. During his run at the highest level, he had victories over some of the best fighters at that time. Today, Jacaré fights in the UFC's middleweight division and is one of the best in the division.





Although, he only competed in the black belt division for two years, Jacaré still managed to accomplish a lot in a short space of time. He is a three time World Champion (2004 absolute, 2005 weight & absolute), a two time World Cup (2004 weight & absolute) and Pan American Champion (2004 weight & absolute), and a one time European (2005), ADCC (2005), and ADCC Superfight Champion (2009).





The pace at which Jacaré fights is very high. He is very fast and aggressive and gives his opponents no chance to capitalise. At the start of his matches, you will often see Jacaré go for a takedown or throw and will look to immediately pass the guard and transition to a submission or a dominant position.





Ronaldo "Jacaré" Souza





The match starts off pretty slow, but towards the middle it starts to pick up and gets exciting to watch. For the majority of the match, Jacaré is on top and Marcelo is on the bottom. Throughout the match, Jacaré puts Marcelo in lots of bad spots, but Marcelo does a phenomenal job of defending Jacaré's attacks, proving why he is one of the greatest of all time.





The video of the match can be found below. I hope you guys enjoy!





See you next week!





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