Marcelo Garcia promotes 21st blackbelt, Chris Civello of Sakura BJJ
Chris Civello, owner of Sakura BJJ in Dover, New Jersey, was promoted to the rank of black belt, May 11. Civello is the 21st student to have been promoted to black belt by Marcelo Garcia, who is widely considered to be one of the best grapplers and arguably the best pound for pound submission grappler in the world.
Sakura BJJ is an affiliate school of Marcelo Garcia Jiu-Jitsu Academy in New York where the promotion took place.
Garcia also promoted three other Jiu-Jitsu aces to black belt along with Civello on Thursday.
#19 Scott Kaplan
#20 David O’Brien
#21 Chris Civello
#22 Tyler Steppe
Garcia a third degree black belt and is a five-time World Champion and four-time ADCC Champion.
When asked what the promotion meant to him, Civello responded, “Everything.”
The video playing above was filmed about a month before Civello’s promotion, when he was still a brown belt. In the interview Civello talks about how he came into the sport of Jiu-Jitsu, changes that have been made in both training and competition over the years, how students can find the right school, and much more.
Sakura BJJ is located at 87 Bassett Hwy, Dover, NJ 07801.
VISIT SAKURA BJJ ON THE WEB AT SAKURABJJ.COM
