“I’m just getting my feet in the water” - BJJ royalty Marcelo Garcia elated for his first competitive match since 2011 

Despite already being one of the most accomplished grapplers in BJJ history, Marcelo Garcia feels like he's just getting started.

After more than a decade on the shelf, the multi-time ADCC and IBJJF world champion will make his ONE Championship debut on Friday, January 24 when the promotion heads back to Impact Arena for a loaded ONE 170 card.

There, Garcia will square off with Japanese superstar Masakazu Imanari.

Appearing on the JitsCast ahead of his highly anticipated return to action, Garcia opened up about what it feels like to compete for the first time since running the table at the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championships in 2011.

"I feel like since I’ve not been competing since 2011, I still have so much desire to compete. But I know, I feel like I’m just getting my feet in the water."

Aside from his plethora of world titles and gold medals, Garcia is a two-time Hall of Famer after being inducted into both the ADCC and IBJJF HOFs.

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Marcelo Garcia reveals why he signed with ONE Championship

Sharing some insight into why he chose ONE Championship for his long-awaited comeback, Marcelo Garcia believes that the Singapore-based promotion has given BJJ specialists a place to display their craft and make a very good living doing so — two big factors that ultimately led to him signing with ONE.

"Jiu-jitsu today, you have such a better place to show jiu-jitsu today. A better platform to compete. The fans are huge. Like the shows ONE are putting [on] today, like to be able to go there and show my jiu-jitsu, that's already enough to make me want to go compete now."

Overall, the BJJ black belt is 85-17 in his submission grappling career with an impressive 65% finish rate. Along the way, he's topped the podium at the IBJJF world championships five times and taken home gold at the ADCCs on four separate occasions.

Fans in the United States and Canada can watch ONE 170: Tawanchai vs. Superbon II will air live on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, January 24 in U.S. primetime.