Marcus and his gold medal. Photo: Personal Archive

Marcus Salerno, a Gracie Barra black belt, has the goal of winning the 2022 International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) World Master, scheduled for September, in Las Vegas, United States.

The athlete has made a luxury preparation by fighting in Federation tournaments between the adult and master division. He recently won a gold medal at the Atlanta Open, a bronze medal at the IBJJF Los Angeles Open and San Diego Open, as well as another gold medal at the hotly contested GB Compnet tournament.

“I’ve been preparing well for the World Masters. I’m more confident now than I was for the 2021 World Masters. I ended up losing in the quarterfinals to the champion by an advantage, but now I’m very well prepared and with a much heavier training schedule. I’m getting help from great athletes on my team and want to be on the podium once again”, says Salerno.

A black belt since 2016, Marcus highlights the main difference between competing against the youngest and the most experienced.

“Without a doubt, the fighting mileage is the key difference between the Adult and Master category. The level of the athletes is practically the same, but the strategy changes a lot. When you fight for 10 minutes in the Adult category, you still have a good amount of time to correct a mistake or point, while in the master the fight is more heated and one mistake is enough to lose the fight”, explains the athlete.

Recently, Marcus experienced fighting in the famous Pyramid of Long Beach, California. For the IBJJF International Master, he secured the bronze medal. Next, the assiduous competitor talks about the experience.

“Fighting in the Pyramid is a unique feeling! This was my third time competing there. In 2011, I got third place and second place in 2016. This last time, I ended up in third again. I fought well, but made a mistake in my last fight and my opponent took the win by points. I’ll correct my mistakes so I can bring home the gold next time”

Marcus Salerno is a BJJ black belt

During his youth, around the age of 16, Marcus Salerno was a constant target of bullying and jokes for being bigger than his peers. One day, his geography teacher had to break up a fight between Marcus and his colleagues, which ended up making him “furious” and in an emotional act Marcus tried to challenge his own teacher.

His teacher Leonardo Silveira had to use Jiu-Jitsu to restrain a young Marcus, who was nervous and angry for having avoided a fight with his classmates.

“It was in the heat of the moment that I tried to face my own teacher and who is now my friend, Leonardo Silveira. He used Jiu-Jitsu techniques to stop me and calm me down, because I was upset with his act of breaking up the supposed fight between me and my classmates. After that, I asked him what he had done to me. Leonardo just told me to buy a gi and he would teach me Jiu-Jitsu. He was a purple belt at the time,” recalls Marcus, who after three months of training was advised to train at Gracie Barra Valparaiso, led by Professor Pieze, where he ended up traveling his entire road to the black belt. Helton Nogueira, also a black belt, is Marcus’s mentor to this day, where he helps him in various matters about Jiu-Jitsu.

His classmates involved in that mess also became great friends, who also had the opportunity to enter the world of Jiu-Jitsu. It is worth mentioning that one of them ended up becoming a black belt within a few months of Marcus. It’s an example of how Jiu-Jitsu works as a personal development tool.

“Guilherme and Adriano, who were in that little kerfuffle at school, are like brothers to me today. Adriano started training six months after the incident and also became a black belt. BJJ strengthened our friendship, brought us closer and we became brothers. The sport acts as a personal development tool. I learned to be brave, to face my own desires and to be very patient. I’m a better person today because of Jiu-Jitsu,” says Marcus, who has been training for 14 years.

With a black belt around his waist since 2016, Marcus has been a medal hunter on the competitive circuit of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF), where he has already accumulated important medals in major tournaments.

“Competing brings us a lot of cool experiences. You have more control over yourself, you understand your body and mind better. It is above all a study of self-knowledge. You end up realizing your limits and, many times, you realize that you were wrong when you said that ‘you could only make it that far.’ Competition shows that you can go further, competing in Jiu-Jitsu completely transforms your life. Even when you lose, you learn, you evolve. In some cases, a defeat brings a very high level of emotional maturity. You see value in all things,” reflects the Gracie Barra champion.

Currently spending a season in the United States to compete, Marcus takes the opportunity to analyze the differences between Brazil and US in terms of training. In his view, Americans are more adept apart from the methodology.

“I would say that in Brazil we are more creative when it comes to fights and here, in the U.S., people follow the step-by-step method. I’m blessed to have many close friends at a high level in Jiu-Jitsu. It is, without a doubt, an incredible experience. Since here people give immense value and appreciation to your Jiu-Jitsu. They can understand the value of being an expert in your profession and, as an athlete, the value they place on us here is immense. This motivates me to continue following the path of competitions,” concludes Marcus.