The idea of ​​David vs. Goliath has become something of a cliché in the world of combat sports, but that’s exactly the best way to describe this matchup.

Being off weight by about 80 pounds. Garcia shouldn’t have had much of a chance, especially in a contest of this caliber, but the fact that Marcelo Garcia controlled the fight speaks volumes for his technical prowess and his abilities. Let’s take an analytical look at the match to find out some winning strategies that Marcelo used to emerge victorious despite the odds.

The match started with Ricco Rodríguez trying to use his strength to distract and discourage Marcelo, but that didn’t work. Marcelo stayed right on top of him, trying to pinch their ankles and drag their arms without losing concentration. All of Garcia’s attempts to engage are met with Rodriguez pulling back from the clinch.

Finally Marcelo uses only one leg to take Ricco’s back in an excellent strategy. He then proceeds to hook him as Ricco stands up.

Marcelo tries to set up the rear choke by faking an arm and when Ricco responds, he then switches back to the choke, but Ricco is able to wriggle out while attempting the choke.

The match went on for a while as Marcelo followed Ricco and tried to drag his arm and touch his ankle to engage while Ricco just kept running away.

Marcelo finally got an ankle and took down the bigger fighter. Ricco proceeded to decently defend himself without running away.

After being stood up, Ricco landed a decent ankle takedown and got on top of Marcelo, but Marcelo managed to successfully fend off from lower half guard and then attempted to sweep Ricco, who rolled away from the attempted sweep.

After what appeared to be a crazy arm bar attempt by Ricco on a seated Marcelo, they got into a fight and Marcelo continued to go on the offensive, tapping an ankle and attempting a knee bar.

Then as they continued Marcelo managed to grab Ricco’s back again and this time Ricco punched Marcelo backwards in a desperate attempt to get him out, the blow going against the rules causing them to questionably restart from the ground with Ricco on top.

After Marcelo successfully came out from the bottom and they brawled a bit, Marcelo successfully finished with a heel hook which he mounted on Ricco’s attempt to break through the half guard.

This fight was filled with great examples of attacking from below with arm sweeps and anklets, not to mention combo attacks and the never die attitude of a champion.

It was a clear demonstration of the power of Jiujitsu in the application of skill, technique and strategy for a smaller man to defeat a much bigger one.