‘An Obsession That Became My Life’ – BJJ Superstar Giancarlo Bodoni’s Unlikely Journey To ONE Championship
Two-time ADCC World Champion Giancarlo Bodoni appears poised to make waves in ONE Championship. A massive ONE signee earlier this year, the American submission grappling superstar joins a stacked roster of world-class ground fighters who represent the pinnacle of the sport.
Renowned for his composure under duress and absurd technical prowess, Bodoni brings a battle-tested championship pedigree to the organization after twice dominating the most prestigious tournament in submission grappling.
His journey to ONE, though, is unlike many of his contemporaries – making his rise even more remarkable.
An Unforgettable Introduction To BJJ
Bodoni’s martial arts journey began long before he became a decorated World Champion. The oldest of three children, he initially participated in various sports and activities, including karate, building the foundation for his future as a professional athlete.
He spoke to onefc.com about his upbringing in South Florida:
“I grew up always active. My parents always pushed us to do sports. I did a handful of different team sports, never anything crazy seriously. Never really competed. I did traditional martial arts since I was probably around 4 or 5 years old.”
Bodoni always felt more drawn to individual sports, but it wasn’t until his chance encounter with a member of the famous Gracie family that he found his true passion.
As a 12-year-old boy driving around with his father, they spotted a small sign advertising Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes in a plain, two-story building. Curious, they ventured inside and met the school’s owner, Rilion Gracie.
Working through the language barrier, Gracie introduced the young Bodoni and his father to BJJ through videos of his famous fighting relatives:
“He starts showing us videos on the computer. He pulls up YouTube, starts showing us videos: ‘This is my family. This is us fighting.'”
Minutes later, Gracie gave Bodoni an impromptu BJJ lesson in the bare-bones facility. The makeshift academy had only the basics – puzzle mats on the floor with no wall padding.
The brief lesson Bodoni received that evening stuck with him for the rest of his life and set him down the path to greatness:
“We go upstairs, and they barely have mats down. They have no wall mats, just some s*** green puzzle mats on the floor. The guy’s showing us, ‘This is how you do a shrimp, this is how you do a forward roll, this is how you do a rear naked choke, this is how you do an armbar.’ I remember those exact movements.”
Passion Becomes A Career
Bodoni stuck with BJJ, continuing to train under Gracie through his teen years and up to the purple belt level.
As he approached the end of high school, he faced the question all young adults encounter: What’s next? Unlike many of his peers who had clear professional goals, Bodoni didn’t see BJJ as a viable career path.
Over time, though, the martial art gradually consumed more and more of his attention:
“That’s one of the main reasons why I started leaning more towards being a competitive athlete, because I just didn’t know. I knew that I didn’t have a specific goal, ‘Oh, I want to go to school and be a lawyer,’ or whatever. I just didn’t have that, and I was never a scholar student.”
At the time, only a small handful of athletes could make it as professional grapplers. But without a clear career direction, Bodoni’s love for BJJ soon consumed him and became the central organizing principle of his life.
Every morning, he began by thinking about techniques and improvement. The gym became more than a training facility; it became home:
“I was just obsessed with it. That’s really what it comes down to. I didn’t want to do anything else. I just wanted to be in the gym all the time. I just didn’t see a future of me doing anything else. I’d wake up in the morning, and that’s all I wanted to do. So it was more an obsession that became my life.”
Overcoming Challenges On The Path To Greatness
Bodoni would spend the next several years traveling around the country, sleeping on couches, taking odd jobs here and there, all in an effort to seek out the best training possible.
His path from student to World Champion was far from smooth, and his career trajectory differed dramatically from many BJJ prodigies who collect countless accolades at every colored belt level. For years, competitive success at the elite level eluded him.
As a blue belt, he competed at the IBJJF World Championships but lost in the second round. His purple belt campaign saw him face early exits at multiple major tournaments. Unlike “the next big thing” athletes who generate buzz from an early age, Bodoni remained under the radar until his brown and black belt runs.
Still, that adversity didn’t dampen his passion for the sport one bit:
“I think almost everybody has a sad story. But I never really look back. Even when I was having challenging times – no money, no place to sleep, no real foreseeable idea of what a future in the sport would be, injuries, being on a losing streak – I never really looked at it as a challenging time.
“I just looked at it as, ‘This is what this is, and I’m just going to keep marching forward and doing what I’m doing.'”
Rather than viewing obstacles as extraordinary hardships, he sees challenging times as inherent parts of a worthwhile journey. It’s a perspective that’s been critical to his success.
Then in 2022, Bodoni cemented himself as an all-time great, shocking much of the grappling world by winning the ADCC World Championships. He would repeat that accomplishment in 2024.
Looking back, he credits his perseverance and work ethic for those triumphs:
“I think what’s really a good measure of how good you are in any aspect of life is just your ability to deal with [challenges], your ability to work through that. So I just welcome it. I don’t try to stop it, try to avoid it. I just deal with it. I have a mission, and my mission is my mission. I’m going to get to it no matter what.
“Nobody has an easy path. Even if you had everything handed to you – you had all the financial backing in the world, your parents supported you – at the end of the day, you still gotta show up. You still gotta do the job. You still gotta train. You still gotta perform. Either way, you’re going to have to face it.”
Building ONE’s Grappling Future
After defending his ADCC World Title in 2024, Bodoni was approached by numerous major grappling promotions. Upon careful consideration, he chose ONE for the organization’s global reach, unmatched production value, and growing roster of top pound-for-pound grapplers.
He now joins the sport’s biggest names, including Tye Ruotolo, Kade Ruotolo, Marcelo Garcia, and Cole Abate. And while he recognizes that those athletes are at the top of the food chain, he appreciates that ONE also gives lesser-known talents the chance to become worldwide superstars:
“The truth is the best grapplers in the world are over here right now, and that’s why ONE is signing them. But the best grappler in the world or in a weight class might be in some random place somewhere, and we won’t find out until we actually give them an opportunity.
“It is creating a situation where the entire world of jiu-jitsu outside of the U.S. and this side of the world is getting an opportunity to come up and increase the level.”
For his part, Bodoni envisions an even bigger and brighter future for ONE’s submission grappling divisions.
He added:
“Eventually, the more guys that sign with ONE, the bigger the brand gets, the stronger the jiu-jitsu portion of ONE gets, the more you’re going to have that same kind of ranking in each of the weight classes.
“So people climb into the ONE ladder for the belt. That’s what I foresee over the next coming years at ONE, if they continue doing what they’re doing.”
