BJJ legend Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida took to social media to announce rumors about his retirement from competition. In Almeida’s post, he aired frustrations with ONE FC after 13 months of inactivity from the organization.
Read the full story below ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Buchecha’s Frustrations With ONE
After 13 months of inactivity, rumors began spreading that Buchecha was retired. Two days ago, the BJJ legend broke his silence with an Instagram post stating that the absence wasn’t his choice.
“A lot of people are asking me lately if I retired. The answer is of course not, the reason I’m not fighting is not my choice. I’ve been out waiting for a fight for almost one year, but I don’t have luck getting a fight. That’s the reason I’m away from the cage or mats.”
Buchecha continued in his IG post: “The right question to ask is when I’m fighting again? But right now I’m asking myself the same thing, to be more precise 13 months. It’s been 13 months of waiting to be in a situation like that. It sucks; I don’t wish this on anybody!”
At the end of his post, Almeida tagged ONE and told fans to ask them: “ So if you want this answer, you know who to ask and tag ONE Championship.”- Buchecha Almeida.
ONE’s Continued Mismanagement
Buchecha’s issues with ONE are felt by many fighters within the organization. Every other week, we read about a frustrated fighter leaving or publicly posting issues with the company. It has become an ongoing trend.
Prior to the BJJ legend posting his frustrations, two of ONE’s champions have subsequently left the company. A week prior to Almeida’s post, ONE kickboxing champion Chingiz Allazov vacated the title, stating, “I’m done fighting in ONE Championship.”
Prior to Allazov leaving, it broke that ONE was threatening legal action against 3-division MMA champ Reinier De Ridder. Despite ONE’s threats, De Ridder recently fought and won a fight in UAW Warrior’s 51 against Magomedmurad Khasaev.
Apparently, the organization’s former champion has called their bluff, and no legal action has been taken.
Other Grappler’s Having Issues With ONE
Marcus Buchecha isn’t the only champion grappler having issues with one. There is a long list of BJJ champions who have been treated poorly by the company.
Diego Pato: Pato signed with ONE over two years ago, but the company has not given him a grappling match.
Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes: Tanquinho waited over four years without the organization offering him a fight. This wait forced Mendes into retirement without ever stepping in to compete.
Garry Tonon: Tonon is the most recent Jiu Jitsu champion who is dealing with the bad business practices of ONE. “The Lion Killer” was shockingly taken out of the top-ten ONE featherweight ranking for no reason.
Tonon’s last match was in January, and he has never publicly smeared the company or announced an injury. We’ll probably hear more about this story later.
Is ONE Going Under?
Despite ONE’s good intentions of putting together the best cards with different combat sports, they keep getting bad publicity. The list of frustrated fighters and grapplers continues to grow, and ONE’s public financial problems have been apparent for years.
We have no idea what their thought process is for these actions. Their bad business practices are hurting the fighters and grapplers financially and turning fans away from the product.
Then, after this week’s debacle with Mikey Musumeci, bad feelings toward ONE continue to grow. If they continue treating their athletes poorly and mishandling funds, we could see them close their doors.
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.
