Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida is gearing up for a pursuit of Tom Aspinall’s UFC gold, but he wasn’t always confident of making it to this point.
Almeida had his UFC signing confirmed in early July, with the man widely branded MMA’s best heavyweight grappler becoming a free agent after leaving ONE Championship.
Almeida joined ONE in 2020 after establishing himself as an all-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu great courtesy of multiple world jiu-jitsu and ADCC submission fighting championship triumphs.
But while things started smoothly for the 35-year-old, he quickly found himself on the sidelines and wondering if his MMA career was coming to a premature end.
READ MORE: Dustin Poirier left former UFC champion in agony after ‘unique’ bone-breaking move ended bloody 2017 warMarcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida almost retired amid struggles in ONE before ‘dream’ UFC move During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, ‘Buchecha’ reacted to his “dream” move to the UFC and reflected on the struggles that came beforehand.
After swapping the BJJ mats for the cage, Almeida won five of his six fights in ONE. His last outing in Asia’s top martial arts promotion was in November 2024, when Almeida defeated Amir Aliakbari by way of a rear-naked choke submission.
While that result saw Almeida immediately rebound from his loss to then-future ONE heavyweight champ Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane, like many MMA fighters in ONE, his ambitions were stalled by forced inactivity and a lack of fight offers.
And things got so bad that the Brazilian grappling legend could not see a light at the end of the tunnel and even thought about hanging up his gloves.
“It was hard to get out of that contract, but we did it. 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,” Almeida said.
“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.
“It crossed my mind many times to retire because I couldn’t take it no more, that was killing me inside,” Almeida continued. “Not having a fight and not being able to fight. 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…signing with the UFC was my desire and dream.”
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Marcus Almeida hasn’t had to wait long for his UFC debutWhile Almeida may have endured a lengthy and frustrating stint on the sidelines under the ONE banner, the Brazilian had his debut announced instantly upon signing with the UFC.
‘Buchecha’ will have his first step toward the promotion’s heavyweight gold in the Middle East this month, when Almeida debuts against Martin Buday on the UFC Abu Dhabi card.
The Slovakian heavyweight has won his last two fights to bring his overall Octagon record to 6-1. His sole UFC defeat came against one-time headliner Shamil Gaziev in late 2023.
Gaziev’s win over Buday propelled him into a sudden main event opportunity against a ranked contender, so Almeida will be hoping for a similar path en route to champion Tom Aspinall by having his hand raised at Etihad Arena on July 26.
