Outside Source
Marcus Almeida is excited to move forward with his MMA career. | ONE Championship
A stagnant ONE Championship tenure took its toll on Marcus Almeida, so much so that he considered hanging up his four-ounce gloves before his MMA career could really get going.
The decorated grappler ultimately decided against retirement, and his patience paid off in the form of a UFC contract. “Buchecha” will make his Octagon debut against Martin Buday in a heavyweight bout at UFC Abu Dhabi — also known as UFC on ABC 9 — on July 26.
“It crossed my mind many times to retire because I couldn’t take it no more, that was killing me inside — not having a fight and not being able to fight,” Almeida recently told MMAFighting.com. “When you have a contract like that, not only with that organization, when you can’t even fight in other sports. In this case, imagine me being unable to even compete in jiu-jitsu. That was something that bothered me a lot. But thank God it’s over. It was quite stressful, but now [I’m] free and ready for the new challenges.”
“After I finished my contract, after I did all six fights, I had to wait that matching period, which every contact has, but I already knew what I wanted, that I didn’t want to re-sign with them. And I knew there would be something out there for me when the contract ended. So I did a camp focused on the contract deadline. I knew it would be just a matter of time. It has taken eight months, but I knew I would be free after eight months. And [after] signing with the UFC, which was my desire and dream, I knew the UFC would get me to fight quickly. Not for nothing, my contract ended now and I’m already fighting later this month. It’s been a dream for me.”
“Buchecha” fought two times in 2021 and 2022 under the ONE banner, but his activity slowed considerably from that point forward. After besting Kirilll Grishenko at ONE on Prime Video 1 on August 26, 2022, he didn’t return until nearly a year later, when he suffered his lone career defeat via decision against Oumar Kane at ONE on Prime Video 13. It would more than a year before he fought again, ending his ONE tenure with a first-round submission of Amir Aliakbari this past November.
’Buchecha’ Shares Difficulties of ONE Championship Contract
The Brazilian isn’t the only fighter who has complained about inactivity in ONE, which has scaled back both its overall schedule and emphasis on MMA in recent months. Now Almeida, a 13-time IBJJF world champion and two-time ADCC gold medalist, can look ahead to his MMA future with excitement.
“It was hard to get out of that contract, but we did it,” Almeida said. “I went there and was a man [of my word], signed a six-fight contract and did all my six fights and left through the front door. But now, as you said, I’m free. I’m excited to fight. It’s been a while since I’ve entered a fight without all that stress in the backstage. Many people only see what happens when you step into the ring or cage and fight, but there’s a lot going on behind the scenes. It’s a lot of stress. It’s bad for the mental health of the athlete. I’ve had bad days, but now it’s all in the past. There’s only good things coming ahead.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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