“It was something amazing” - ‘Buchecha’ remembers Leandro Lo’s immense gesture

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida’s friendship with the late great Leandro Lo was at such a level that either man would gladly give up a world title just for their friend to realize his dream.

Such was the case when Lo practically gave up his opportunity for the absolute world title during the 2016 IBJJF World Championship.

In a self-titled feature film, ‘Buchecha’ recalled how his close friendship with Lo came about. A snippet of the film was re-uploaded to FloGrappling’s YouTube channel following Lo’s death in Brazil.

Lo found out that he would be taking on Almeida in the semifinals of the absolute division, but he ultimately decided to back out after watching ‘Buchecha’ battle his way back from his knee injury in 2015.

Almeida said:

“Before the fight, I was warming up I said ‘ok man that’s gonna be like the final for me’ because he’s the toughest guy, it doesn’t matter who was on the other side for me like Leandro would be the toughest guy in my head.”

He added:

“He said ‘I know everything that you’re going through, 'I know you’re trying to recover so bad and I think my time will come but not today.’”

Almeida recalled how Lo excused himself from the competition, citing a bum neck that supposedly prevented him from competing. It was also at that moment when Lo told Almeida that he was not going to fight his friend in the open weight semifinals.

“People said ‘hey Leandro it’s the semifinal’ he said, ‘no I hurt my neck and I don’t wanna fight’ and he didn’t. Then he said ‘hey it’s your time, go straight to the final, I don’t want to fight you.’ And he started crying because he gave up his dream to become an open weight [absolute] champion for me to live mine. It was something amazing.”

Almeida, who practically received a bye to the finals, eventually beat Erberth Santos, 4-2, in the absolute final. His open weight gold medal was his second world title in the 2016 IBJJF World Championships after he beat James Puopolo via armbar in the ultra heavyweight final.

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‘Buchecha’ describes Lo as a fighter with the biggest heart

While martial arts is a competition, it’s also an avenue for fighters from different backgrounds to develop deep friendships.

'Buchecha’ said that he and Lo already knew each other when they were just starting in BJJ but they ultimately developed a close bond in 2015 following his knee injury.

Lo, who won eight titles in the IBJJ World Championships, helped take care of Almeida during his recovery and that was when they became nearly inseparable:

“We knew each other since we were blue belts in the old days but we never really got close, but when I blew up my knee that’s when something clicked and we became friends, really close. Leandro Lo is a crazy guy, a crazy competitor that everybody knows but people don’t know that he’s one of the guys who have the biggest heart.”