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BJJ legend Marcelo Garcia had a tough battle against stomach cancer in 2023 but never did he lose hope. He always believed that there was chance he was going to survive it, which he did.
The now-41-year-old Garcia shared what he went through in his health ordeal to ONE Championship ahead of his promotional debut later this month at ONE 170. He said that while the prognosis for him and his cancer was rendered bleak, he always knew it was not yet the end game for him.
ONE posted a carousel of quote cards showing what Marcelo Garcia said, one of which read:
"But I always believed there's a chance. There's a chance that things are going to go well."
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Since recovering, Garcia continued with his passion of doing jiu-jitsu by way of teaching in his academy.
Before retiring from the game, he was a highly successful BJJ artist, who won in a lot of tournaments, including at the ADCC, where he was a four-time gold medal winner.
Marcelo Garcia comes out of retirement to compete at ONE 170
Marcelo Garcia has come out of retirement to compete at ONE 170 on Jan. 24 against veteran Japanese fighter Masakazu Imanari in an openweight submission grappling showdown.
It will be his first competitive match since calling it a career to focus on, among other things, his family over a decade ago.
While it has been some time since he was in action, Garcia said he never truly left BJJ as he continues to teach the martial art in his academy, which he said kept him in shape and sharp all this time.
Providing added motivation for him for ONE 170 is the opportunity for his children to see him compete since they never had the chance to do so when he was still very active in tournaments.
Looking to test Garcia in his ONE debut is Imanari, 48, who is a veteran of seven matches under ONE Championship.
ONE 170 will go down at the Impact Arena in Bagkok, Thailand, and air live and for free at U.S. primetime to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.
