Giancarlo Bodoni is a brown belt competitor who trains and teaches at Bernardo Faria’s gym in Massachusetts. Growing up in Miami, Florida, he began training at a young age and says “I started training BJJ at around age 12 or so. I always did martial arts since I was a kid and there was a BJJ academy just up the street from my school at the time and I used to walk there after school every day to train.”
When playing guard, Bodoni prefers closed guard but often opts for De La Riva when playing open guard. However, when on top he favours pressure passing without a distinct style. He also lists Cross Collar and Bow and Arrow chokes as his favourite forms of submissions. This can be somewhat attributed to the first grappler he idolised, the legendary Roger Gracie. As Bodoni puts it “The first grappler that ever made a huge impact on my game is Roger Gracie, for years I modeled his style and to this day I am such a huge believer and fan of his approach and style. Other big influences for me were Rodolfo Vieira and of course, my professor Lucas Lepri has made a huge impact on my game in the last 3 years working together.”
Bodoni comes from an outstanding lineage of BJJ, whilst currently training with Faria, he started under Lucas Lepri and adds “Previously I was training at Lucas Lepri’s school in Charlotte NC but I moved up to teach, however, I am still under Lucas Lepri.”. His BJJ lineage continues in his competition results, usually competing at heavyweight, Bodoni has already won NoGi worlds and acheived a silver at Gi Worlds.
Whilst on the subject of competing, he adds Ronaldo Junior as his toughest competitor claiming “The hardest opponent to date would probably be Ronaldo Junior from ATOS, We fought the finals at worlds in 2019 and I lost by a sweep from 50/50 in a tough match after being ahead”.
He is also ambitious and looks forward to the future and the possibility of more high-level medals, saying “My plans for the rest of this year are Pan Ams in October and ADCC trials for right now. My main goal is always the black belt world championship and ADCC, [which are] the most prestigious events in BJJ. I am particularly looking forward to the trials because I have never competed in that ruleset before”
Like many full-time competitors, Bodoni has had his share of injuries and lists his lower back as his worst, stating “Worst injury to date is probably my low back. I had fractured my L5 vertebrae and had 2 slipped disks that put me out for a bit but I’m fully recovered now. I’ve had other injuries but nothing else that put me out for too long and luckily never needed any surgery.”
Away from BJJ, Bodoni is also open to the possibility of MMA in the future and doesn’t rule it out – claiming “I fought MMA in Texas years ago. I do have the desire to continue to pursue MMA but right now I am extremely focused on my career in BJJ so I don’t want to look past what is currently on my plate but the desire is there for sure. I always look to challenge myself and become the best fighter I can be. I hope to one day be able to share my experience with future generations and leave a mark on the sport.” With this said, he is more than just a Jiu Jitsu purist and is a well-rounded martial artist. There is no doubt we will be hearing of his future success at both brown and black belt.
Bodoni’s DVD’s can be found here which focus heavily on his powerful closed guard game.
