Lachlan Giles is officially making his comeback to the world of professional Jiu-Jitsu after being happily retired for 3 years, and it’s against BJJ legend Marcelo Garcia. It’s a crazy matchup that has come seemingly out of nowhere but it’s immediately become one of the biggest stories of the year. The match will take place at ONE Fight Night 38 on December 5th, 2025 and both men are now starting their training camps to prepare for it. It’s a big moment for Garcia as it’s a continuation of a return to Jiu-Jitsu that started with beating Masakazu Imanari at the beginning of the year, but for Giles this is his first time back.
Giles recently spoke pretty candidly about what specifically pulled him back into competition and according to him, it’s more about the opponent he’s been offered than anything else:
“So I’ve been happily retired but I’ve been offered a match I can’t refuse with Marcelo Garcia. He’s one of my idols and the greatest of all time, and I get a chance to compete against someone in my weight division as well. So yeah, I couldn’t refuse that one.”
We actually spoke to Giles about the idea of competing in Jiu-Jitsu again just a few months ago and although he didn’t shut the door entirely, he clearly wasn’t considering doing it any time soon. Nobody could have predicted that ONE Championship would give him the chance to face one of the greatest competitors in the history of the sport though, and Giles added that it really couldn’t have been anyone else:
“Probably there would be no other match I would take except this one. Here’s a chance to compete against the best of all time in my weight division, so it should be a really exciting match. It’s a really interesting stylistic matchup.”
Lachlan Giles shared his thoughts about his upcoming comeback match against Marcelo Garcia in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
