Legendary BJJ competitor Marcelo Garcia is ready to face Masakazu Imanari on January 24, 2025, at ONE 170.
After almost 15 years on the sidelines, multiple-time ADCC and IBJJF world champion Marcelo Garcia will make his much-anticipated return to competitors.
On Wednesday, the Brazilian appeared on the Ariel Helwani present and introduced that he can be going through Japanese MMA veteran Masakazu Imanari on January 24 at ONE 170. The matchup will happen on the Affect Area in Bangkok, Thailand.
Regarded by many as the perfect pound-for-pound submission grappler within the historical past of the game, Garcia hasn’t competed since submitting three of 4 opponents to win gold on the 2011 ADCC World Championships. Since then, he has largely targeted on rising his academy in New York Metropolis. In 2023, he overcame a battle with abdomen most cancers that compelled him off the mats for almost your entire 12 months.
Past his prolonged listing of accomplishments, Garcia is seen as an vital innovator of recent strategies – primarily his butterfly guard, x-guard, and guillotine chokes.
The match in opposition to Imanari can be a 10-minute, submission-only affair.
In accordance with Garcia, he was planning to face one other Japanese MMA veteran, Shinya Aoki, in his ONE debut. Nevertheless, with Aoki now set to face Cole Abate at ONE Battle Evening 26, that matchup fell by.
Garcia instructed Helwani that he wasn’t overly involved about which opponent he could be going through.
“I by no means actually select opponents… Even my coaching, my coaching is rarely primarily based on my opponent. I simply base my coaching on competing in opposition to the perfect… I simply need to have that feeling to be on the market once more. That was one thing that I’ve been lacking rather a lot… I actually plan to get a submission, to get a dominant efficiency. I hope I can show a extremely thrilling match.”
For his half, Imanari is a long-time MMA veteran who has spent the previous 20 years competing in Asia’s most distinguished organizations. He’s a real grappling specialist, boasting the overwhelming majority of his wins by means of submission.
Notably, Imanari is thought for his leg locks, and is the inventor of the Imanari roll – a way that’s comparatively widespread at the moment.
Find out how to watch: Marcelo Garcia vs. Masakazu Imanari takes place on January 24, 2025, at ONE 170 in Bangkok, Thailand, and can air dwell on watch.onefc.com starting at 7:30 AM EST.
