"Marcelo the GOAT" - Cris Cyborg, Adriano Moraes hyped for BJJ legend Marcelo Garcia's stunning return at ONE 170

BJJ legend Marcelo Garcia's arrival to one of the world's largest MMA organizations has excited fans and other professional combat sports artists who know the caliber of the Brazilian icon.

ONE Championship officially announced Garcia's first bout in the promotion, as he takes on fellow grappling icon Masakazu Imanari in an Openweight submission grappling match on Jan. 24 at ONE 170 inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

The world's largest martial arts organization captioned the post with:

"DREAM MATCH 🤩🥋 Brazililan Jiu-Jitsu legend Marcelo Garcia will make his ONE debut against Japanese leg lock master Masakazu Imanari in an openweight submission grappling showdown on January 24 at ONE 170! Who you got? @marcelogarciajiujitsu @imanarijiujitsu"

This fight announcement has hyped up the fans, as fighters such as Gabi Garcia (@gabigarciaofficial), Luccas Lira (@lirabjj), Cris Cyborg (@criscyborg), former ONE flyweight MMA world champion Adriano Moraes (@moraesadrianomma), and Renzo Gracie (@renzograciebjj) sent their reactions through their comments on the post:

"The real nogi (and gi) goat 🐐 Ladies and Gentlemen the one and only one! @marcelogarciajiutjitsu 👏👏👏"

"Marcelo the goat 🐐"

"Fight ! Great to see @marcelogarciajiutjitsu back 🔥🔥👏"

"🔝🔝🔝🔝😃🤙🏼"

"Cant wait to see Marcelo competing live"

Screenshot of fans' comments

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Marcelo Garcia thinks that his defense will be impenetrable against Masakazu Imanari's leglocks

Before this clash at ONE 170, Garcia sat down with MMA journalist Ariel Helwani and discussed his strategy heading into the bout against the Japanese submission specialist.

Garcia believes he can stop the signature attack of Imanari and employ an aggressive style to make him defend his offense, as he stated:

"I believe 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. I feel like I want to go where I have most of the chance, like on my game, on my attack. And that's what I am planning to do."