An exciting and unexpected match up between Brazilian jiu-jitsu legends has been booked.
Marcelo Garcia and Lachlan Giles both made their mark in the sport with iconic ADCC runs that saw them beat far bigger
heavyweights. Both lightweight legends competed during different eras of the sport before transitioning to coaching, but in a surprising twist Giles and Garcia will now return and face off against each other.
As announced by the promotion, Marcelo Garcia vs. Lachlan Giles has been booked for December 5, 2025, in Bangkok, Thailand. The match will be part of ONE Fight Night 38 card at the iconic Lumpinee Stadium, and will be contested at 170 lbs.
Garcia is a five-time IBJJF world champion in the gi, while in no gi he was a four-time ADCC champion in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2011. Considered as one of the greatest grapplers of all-time, Garcia returned to competition after a 14-year hiatus and battle with cancer early in 2025. He didn’t miss a beat and still looked impressive as he easily submitted Japanese MMA legend Masakazu Imanari with one of his patented chokes.
Giles is a three time ADCC trials winner, but is known for his 2019 absolute run that saw him submit heavyweights like ADCC champ Kaynan Duarte and Patrick Gaudio. The Australian grappler is also one of the great minds in the sport, having coached some of the top BJJ champions like Craig Jones and Levi Jones-Leary.
Despite competing in different eras in jiu-jitsu, they’re just four years apart in age, with Garcia being 43 years old, and Giles 39.
Lachlan Giles says he wouldn’t return for anyone else but ‘the GOAT’ Marcelo Garcia
Lachlan Giles last competed in ADCC 2022, where he lost to top pound-for-pound star Kade Ruotolo. He says he wanted to focus on coaching, but a match up against a legend like Marcelo Garcia was just too hard to pass up.
“I’ve been happily retired, but I’ve been offered a match I can’t refuse with Marcelo Garcia,” Giles said on a recent YouTube video. “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 I couldn’t refuse that one.
“Probably there’d be no other match I would take except this one,” Giles explained, noting how injuries have made it harder to compete against much younger opponents. While they’re both known for beating larger men, Giles likes the idea of competing against someone with a similar weight and age.
“Here’s a chance to compete against the best of all time in my weight division. Someone who’s (four) years older than me, so there’s not a huge age gap,” he said. “It should be a really exciting match. It’s a really interesting stylistic match up. So for me, it’s a chance to try to prove myself in my weight class, against the best to ever do it.”
Giles also spoke about the “interesting” style match up, with Garcia going against his modern style that’s more inline with the jiu-jitsu’s current meta game.
“He retired considerably earlier than me. The first year I did ADCC, he wasn’t there. He’s already won like the last four in a row and then retired,” Giles said. “You haven’t seen him tested against like the new leg lock game, and some of the newer advancements in the game. So I guess in some ways, I embody that style and it’ll be interesting to see that good stylistic match up.”
Garcia did submit a leg lock specialist on his most recent competition, with his preference for chokes and top game prevailing in that match up. Giles will have a more modern approach to his leg entries and overall game than Imanari though, which should make for a really intriguing contest.
While they did well in their own division, both grapplers really stood out for their iconic runs at the ADCC absolute divisions, where they submitted far larger heavyweights. Both men came into those open-weight tournaments as huge underdogs, with Garcia taking ADCC bronze in 2005 and silver in 2007, and Giles taking ADCC bronze in 2019.
Garcia and Giles also share a common opponent, as they both submitted former ADCC and UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez by heel hook. Garcia submitted Rodriguez and Diego Sanchez in his ADCC bronze absolute run in 2005. Giles on the other hand, joined a Quintet-style team format in 2019, where he singlehandedly submitted an entire five-man team that had Rodriguez and other UFC vets like Chris Lytle and Joe Riggs.
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