Marcelo Garcia confident he won't fall victim to Masakazu Imanari's trademark leg locks: "I really know how to protect my ankles"

Brazilian jiu-jitsu royalty Marcelo Garcia is a walking textbook of the discipline, and he's ready to live up to his legendary status when he debuts on submission grappling's grandest stage on Jan. 24.

The 41-year-old BJJ black belt crosses paths with Japanese battle-tested veteran Masakazu Imanari, who's built a reputation as a master of one specific submission: Leg locks.

While many would fear 'Ashikan-Judan's' ability to lock in his signature move, Marcelo Garcia hinted during a recent exchange with JitsCast that his foe's expertise doesn't bother him too much.

He shared:

"I don't know if people realize, but I did that [fighting against leg locks specialists] my entire life. I believe I really know how to protect my ankles."

Garcia, however, explained that he doesn't have any bad intentions in his bold statement, saying it stems from the confidence in his abilities built throughout his days as a competitor.

The Brazilian legend continued:

"What I'm trying to say is not that I don't respect him or I don't believe like he can go through my defense, but that's like a set of rules that I have on my mind - I need to focus on my jiu-jitsu and not on my opponent's jiu-jitsu."

As one of the leading names in the BJJ sphere who has shared the mats with true legends of the sport, it's easy to understand why.

The Marcelo Garcia Academy head honcho has used that similar approach to conquer every obstacle on his way to multiple BJJ world championships.

And he believes focusing on things within his control will be his biggest key to victory at ONE 170 inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can catch the entire card live and for free.

Watch the full interview here:

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Marcelo Garcia expects to be 'very busy' in ONE Championship

Marcelo Garcia doesn't plan to just dazzle for one time in the organization, he's in it for the long haul.

After all, the promotion's submission grappling roster houses the cream of the crop in the submission grappling realm, and the BJJ icon sees plenty of interesting matchups down the line after he comes out victorious in his promotional bow.

In the same interview, the 41-year-old added:

"I'm planning to be very busy. I don't know how many of those I can do, but like I'm going to be busy, I hope."