Gabi Garcia now has an opponent confirmed for her return to professional MMA, as she will be facing off against Barbara Nepomuceno in a rematch at Centurion FC 19 on April 25th, 2024. Neither Garcia nor Nepomuceno have actually fought in MMA since the first time they met back at RIZIN 14 in 2018, so this rematch is now a little over 5 years in the making. This time it will be taking place in Sao Paulo, Brazil and on the regional MMA circuit instead of for a major promotion in Japan, marking the first time that Garcia has managed to book an MMA fight in her native country instead of Asia.
They were originally matched up in a battle between two distinctly different martial arts styles, as Garcia is an incredibly accomplished BJJ competitor and Nepomuceno is a top-ranked veteran kickboxer. It wasn’t a very long fight though, as Garcia was able to take the fight to the ground early and find the submission finish a little over two and a half minutes into the first round. Their first fight was actually the only MMA fight of Nepomuceno’s career, while Garcia moved to 5-0 (1) with the win over her.
Although Garcia left to focus on BJJ once again after this fight, she began teasing a return to MMA at the beginning of 2023. Naturally those kinds of transitions take time so the elite grappler has spent the last year preparing to make a comeback, announcing a heavyweight title-fight at the beginning of 2024. Now that her opponent has been announced, fans will get the chance to see this battle between two top competitors from different martial arts crossing over for an MMA fight once again.
Centurion FC announced the news that Gabi Garcia was going to return to MMA in a rematch against Barbara Nepomuceno in a recent post to their official Instagram account. Garcia also confirmed the news by adding the following statement:
“Everyone asked for it! Everyone wanted to see this rematch! Here it is!”
