Gabi Garcia is a BJJ legend despite the fact her MMA career didn’t go according to plan. Garcia is one of the rare individuals that were able to capture the ADCC title four times. She equalized Marcelo Garcia’s record back in 2019.
But unlike Marcelo Garcia, Gabi has an imposing stature. Her physique was able to dwarf that of UFC veteran Mirko Crocop Filipovic when they attended Rizin presser together.
Gabi Garcia hasn’t had luck transitioning to MMA due to her unusual frame. She is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs in between 190 and 200lbs.
Fast forward to earlier this week. A trans powerlifter sued USA powerlifting for discrimination for not allowing her to enter the female division. She had won the lawsuit and the court instructed USA Powerlifting to change their guidelines. While USA Powerlifting plans to appeal the ruling, this flamed tensions among netizens once again.
One clip in particular went viral. It featured an IBJJF match in the Absolute division. It was between Gabi Garcia and now UFC strawweight Mackenzie Dern. The clip ended up going viral with a single social media post reaching over 4 million views.
This clip isn’t the best way to communicate the point for multiple reasons including the fact that Mackenzie Dern was ultimately able to defeat her and become a huge star in BJJ. She also successfully transitioned to MMA and had even headlined a UFC event.
One reason that the clip isn’t 100% inappropriate is the fact that Garcia popped for a PED some years back. At the time she blamed the positive test on getting fertility treatments.
Garcia was also heavily criticized for accepting Rizin matches against much older pro wrestlers. In this case, the size discrepancy once again reduced her MMA career to mockery.
She announced she would be returning to MMA earlier this year but an opponent and the promoter are still unknown.
