Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Marcus Almeida scored his fourth MMA win at ONE Championship – One on Prime Video 1, but the feeling was not entirely one of excitement after the victory.
After fellow BJJ star Leandro Lo was shot to death earlier this month, ‘Buchecha’ could not keep his close friend out of his thoughts ahead of the bout.
Although he was able to score a heel hook submission in only 64 seconds, Almeida revealed that the weeks between Lo’s death and his fight were dark times for himself. During his post-fight speech, Marcus revealed he thought about withdrawing, but ultimately decided not to, thinking that it was not what Leandro would have wanted.
“I lost one of my best friends. That guy was a brother to me. I lost him in a tragic way. Firstly, I was trying to pull out of the fight. But, for sure, he’s up there in the sky (heaven). If I pulled out, he would be really mad at me.
“Eu perdi um dos meus melhores amigos, o cara era um irmão pra mim. Perdi de uma forma trágica, então eu estava tentando desistir da luta, mas com certeza ele está me olhando lá de cima, e ele iria ficar muito bravo comigo se eu desistisse.”
– Marcus Buchecha, sobre Leandro Lo. pic.twitter.com/gR9Seo2s2r
— ✠ ƛƝƬƠƝЄԼԼƖ ✠ (@antonellibjj) August 27, 2022
The quick win over Kirill Grishenko puts Almeida (4-0) on a four-fight winning streak, all finishes. With all his bouts having taken place under ONE’s banner so far, the 32-year-old has scored two more submission wins and one TKO ever since making his MMA debut in September 2021.
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