BJJ legend Marcelo Garcia will now be making a dramatic return from retirement after signing an exclusive contract to make his debut for ONE Championship. The promotion has been pouring a lot of time and effort into making sure that their submission grappling divisions are a success with some big signings over the last few years, but this is definitely the biggest one they’ve managed to secure to date. So far they’ve been focusing more on attracting current competitors who are among the best in the world right now, or convincing Sambo and MMA world champions to test themselves in Jiu-Jitsu matches.
Signing someone like Marcelo Garcia is new territory for ONE Championship, as he is one of a tiny handful of competitors who have gone down in history as being among the best to ever do it. Nobody has managed to equal his record of winning four regular weight classes at ADCC yet, but it was his incredible performances in the absolute division as a 77kg competitor that really cemented his legacy. Garcia made his ADCC debut in 2003, and he went on to become a permanent fixture at the top of the sport for 8 years after that. He also won an impressive 5 IBJJF World Championship titles in the gi alongside his record-breaking no gi achievements.
Garcia left the sport in 2011 and hasn’t looked back since, focusing more on teaching and developing his academy into one of the most successful in the sport. A number of the sport’s top competitors have actually earned their black belts from Garcia; like Gianni Grippo, Dominika Obelenyte, and Matheus Diniz. His influence has been felt throughout the sport in the years since his retirement, and not just from the students that have learned directly from him. Many of the best competitors in the world have spent a long time studying Garcia’s butterfly guard and his unique approach to the guillotine is now standard in the sport.
Devastating news came in 2023 when Garcia revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer, and at the age of 40 it seemed as though a return to the sport was never going to happen. After undergoing several months of treatment, Garcia was able to share an update on his condition to confirm that he was well on the road to recovery. He was eager to get back into training and things looked very positive, but it was still hard to imagine that fans would ever get to see Garcia back in action in competition. Then he dropped the bombshell that he was actually prepared to step in to ADCC 2022 if either Gordon Ryan or Andre Galvao were injured.
That was a clear signal that Garcia was seriously considering one more trip to the mats well over a decade since he last competed, but it still looked increasingly unlikely as time went on. Now at the age of 41, Marcelo Garcia has committed to returning by signing with ONE Championship. His debut opponent has not yet been confirmed, but it’s hard to imagine who the promotion would book him against. They have several MMA fighters under contract who would no doubt be happy to compete against him, but their recent signings of Cole Abate and Dante Leon would both be amazing matchups.
ONE Championship announced the news that they had signed a contract with Marcelo Garcia to make his return from retirement in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
