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Undefeated ONE Championship heavyweight and one of the most decorated Brazilian jiiu-jitsu world champions ever, Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida, is on a path to MMA greatness.
With two submission wins in his budding MMA career so far, the 13-time world grappling champion is about to compete in his third professional MMA outing on April 22nd.
Opposite the cage from him will be Oumar 'Reug Reug' Kane and will be part of the main card of ONE: Eersel vs. Sadokovic. Already a legend in the submission grappling world, 'Buchecha' aims to conquer new heights in a new sport. He does, however, recognize the importance of what ONE is doing for submission grappling, the sport that started his career.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Almeida spoke about the recent signing of world-class grapplers on the ONE Championship roster:
"That's the best, I think, ONE Championship and [ONE CEO] Chatri [Sityodtong] is doing right now. They are doing a really amazing job with that. It's making the whole world see grapplers like kickboxers, Muay Thai fighters. People that sometimes didn't have the big stage to show their work and ONE Championship is giving them great opportunities."
He further expounded on how different ONE treats its athletes, as compared to his previous grappling organizations like ADCC:
"You see the little girl Danielle Kelly, she got a $50K bonus. So I think, for jiu-jitsu grappling girls, I think, it was the biggest paycheck one of those girls got. Not even ADCC champs get that much money. So It's good to see how they are changing people's lives, you know what I mean? To be part of that, to be in an organization, to be able to fight and to watch all that, for me, is amazing."
Brazilian jiu-jitsu rising star Danielle Kelly recently received a $50K bonus check for her riveting performance at ONE X. If Almeida is speaking the truth about what grapplers make, then we might see a major change. More and more world-class grapplers will get signed by ONE in the future.
It only makes sense. If you're good at something, never sell yourself short. And ONE Championship is, apparently, paying its grapplers more than most.
Watch the full interview here:
"ONE Championship is making grappling great again" - Marcus Almeida on ONE's contribution to the submission grappling world
When asked about how he compares the previous organizations that he has worked with in the past to ONE, Almeida had this to say:
"ONE Championship is the place to be. It's making grappling great again...What made me really get out of the jiu-jitsu world is too much politics, too much drama, and too much like, everybody wants to fight, but nobody wants to make the effort. The organizations want you to fight for free, pretty much. So nobody wants to pay the athletes. We are professionals. We are fighters. So I kinda got out of the organizations out there. So being in ONE Championship, fighting MMA and being able to fight grappling, something that I love, something I've been doing my whole life, at the same place and the same cage, for me is something unbelievable. So, for me, it's kind of like a dream come true."
Submission grappling icons like Gordon Ryan, Andre Galvao, Garry Tonon and 'Buchecha' himself have already signed with ONE alongside modern-day greats like Danielle Kelly and Mikey Musumeci. With how things are going and how ONE is bringing fresh new platforms for grapplers to shine, we'll definitely see more of them come in on their roster.
