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Brazilian jiu-jitsu icon Marcelo Garcia plans to keep the ball rolling when he's ticked off his promotional debut at ONE 170. The 41-year-old opens his ONE Championship account against Japanese martial arts icon Masakazu Imanari in an openweight submission grappling joust on Jan. 24 inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
Given his age and time away from competition, a small fraction of fans think this would be a swansong moment for the multi-time BJJ world champion — who last stepped on the mats competitively in his ADCC world title win in 2011.
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However, the Marcelo Garcia Academy stressed that this will only be the first of many more dazzling nights on the global stage of the promotion.
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Speaking on The Ariel Hewani Show, the Brazilian offered:
"No, [this is not going to be my] last match. I don't have those plans. I intend to do a lot more after this."
Garcia was announced as ONE Championship's latest addition to its ever-expanding submission grappling roster last month.
He is widely regarded as the greatest BJJ athlete in history, and he's ready to showcase his world championship caliber when he debuts against Imanari at ONE 170 on Jan. 24.
Watch his full interview with Ariel Helwani here:
Marcelo Garcia confident he won't fall prey to Imanari's trademark leg lock
Marcelo Garcia knows what he will be up against when he steps inside the ONE Circle for the very first time at ONE 170.
Imanari has built a reputation as arguably the best leg-locking wizard in MMA. The 48-year-old has racked up an ungodly 28 submissions from his 40 career victories, with most coming via his go-to method.
Despite his foe's specialty, the 41-year-old doesn't think he'll be in any threat when they lock horns on the canvas next month.
In the same interview, he continued:
"I have a good defense. I believe I have trained that for my entire life because I don't want to be on that gamble scenario, on that gamble that like I have less chance than my opponent."
