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Marcelo Garcia is already looking forward to his next submission grappling bout.
On Friday, January 24, ONE Championship returned to the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand for ONE 170. The event featured several highly-anticipated matchups, including Garcia's promotional debut in submission grappling.
Garcia, a 5x IBJJF world champion and 4x ADCC world champion, hadn't competed in nearly fourteen years. Garcia overcame many obstacles to return, including a treacherous journey through stomach cancer.
At ONE 170, the 42-year-old picked up right where he left off, defeating Masakazu Imanari in an openweight submission grappling bout with a north-south choke.
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'Marcelinho' was joined in the ring by ONE commentator Mitch Chilson for a post-fight interview. The Brazilian legend had this to say:
"I have a lot of fights ahead of my contract. I waited almost 14 years to do this, so I don’t want to wait any longer. I want to do this as soon as possible."
ONE 170 showcased three world title fights.
Tawanchai defeated Superon by second-round knockout (featherweight Muay Thai), Fabricio Andrade knocked out Kwon Won Il in round one (bantamweight MMA), and Nabil Anane secured a first-round knockout against Nico Carrillo (interim bantamweight Muay Thai world title).
The replay of ONE 170, including Marcelo Garcia's promotional debut, can be seen for free by North American and Canadian viewers via watch.onefc.com.
Watch Garcia submit Imanari at ONE 170 below:
Marcelo Garcia reveals who he wants to compete against next
Marcelo Garcia signed a multi-fight contract with ONE Championship. Following his impressive debut, Garcia revealed who he wants to compete against next during his previously mentioned in-ring interview with Mitch Chilson:
"There is a match that was supposed to be before this one. There was somebody who I was supposed to fight before this one. Shinya Aoki was supposed to be my first one. I'm still ready for him."
Shinya Aoki is a pioneer and legend of combat sports. The former ONE lightweight MMA world champion holds promotional records of 13-5 in MMA and 1-4 in submission grappling, with various matchups against world-class opponents.
At 41 years old, Aoki would be the perfect opponent to further test how far Marcelo Garcia can go under the ONE Championship banner.
