Gordon Ryan is viewed by many as the greatest grappler of all time in no-gi jiu-jitsu, but Marcelo Garcia begs to differ.
The Brazilian icon has defeated larger and heavier opponents despite weighing around 170 pounds, claiming four ADCC gold medals and five IBJJF world titles as a black belt from 2003 to 2011. After more than a decade away from competition, Garcia is set to return under the ONE Championship banner, facing Masakazu Imanari on January 24. He explained to MMA Fighting why Ryan cannot yet be named the grappling GOAT.
According to Garcia, “only time” will determine if Ryan can enter the GOAT conversation. The John Danaher protégé hasn’t lost in nearly six years, boasting a record that includes 56 wins and two draws. However, Garcia finds it difficult to accept Ryan’s place in the discussion because of disagreements regarding steroid use in jiu-jitsu.
“He’s at the top right now, but it’s hard to say he’s the greatest of all time,” Garcia stated. “I don’t want to be a hypocrite here. I know I’ve achieved a lot at my size, 170 pounds, by facing the best in my weight class and larger competitors, while considering that many were using steroids. I believe a lot of this new generation is using steroids as well.”
Ryan recently commented during a UFC media day that “the problem is that if one organization makes it so that PEDs are illegal, but then all of the other organizations that you’re competing at throughout the rest of the year say they’re legal, now I have to be clean throughout the year to compete [for] your one organization.”
Garcia remarked, “If he continues to compete and no one beats him, and continues to have the performances he’s putting on, you can’t say [he’s not the GOAT]. And he’s young, too, of course he can be that guy. But I can say all I’ve done was steroid-free. I don’t know that’s the case with Gordon [laughs]. To me, that’s a decisive point, if someone needed extra help or not. Like people say, ‘that person didn’t come alone’ [to compete]. I was alone every single time, only with my training and my technique. When people say, ‘Oh, but everybody uses it,’ that excuse doesn’t make sense to me.”
Garcia continued, “And that’s one of the reasons why I’m coming back to fighting because I want to prove you don’t need that. And how do we prove that? To me, if someone has used [steroids] once, he’s already contaminated. You’ve cheated the game. I have to defend that because that’s how it always was for me. I wish the young ones — my children, if one day they decide to compete and be successful, I don’t want them to depend on that.”
“Marcelinho” will return to the mats a week after turning 42 and beating stomach cancer. He mentioned that watching his adoptive mother battle the same disease was one reason he avoided steroids at a young age.
“I lost my mother to stomach cancer as well,” Garcia reflected. “It’s not connected [to mine] because I was adopted, but I lived through cancer and remember someone telling me when I was young that using steroids or HGH could increase the odds of developing cancer. As a teenager, that was enough for me to say, ‘No, why would I risk it?’ I lost my mom when I was young and had to deal with cancer from a different perspective, and I don’t want anything that could harm my health and my family. I have to defend that until the end because it worked for me. I was very successful, not only in my division but in the absolute, without steroids.”
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