‘That was killing me inside’: Marcus Buchecha considered retirement during forced layoff at ONE, celebrates UFC debut

Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Marcus Buchecha makes his octagon debut later this month, taking on Martin Buday on July 26 at UFC Abu Dhabi, but the heavyweight talent almost never made it this far.

In fact, he considered ending his career during a feud with his previous promotion, ONE Championship.

The 13-time IBJJF world champion and two-time ADCC gold medalist finally made his transition to MMA in 2021, leaving a historic grappling career behind to embark on a new challenge. Buchecha signed with ONE and made short work of Anderson “Braddock” Silva that September, quickly improving to 4-0 with four first-round finishes in less than a year.

Then things took a surprising turn.

Buchecha only returned to action 12 months later, losing a decision to future heavyweight champion “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane. Once again, he was forced to sit out for even longer, facing—and submitting—Amir Aliakbari after a 15-month break. That was the last bout of his deal with the Singapore-based company, but he still had to wait a long time before signing with another MMA promotion.

“It was hard to get out of that contract, but we did it,” Buchecha told MMA Fighting. “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. 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. I’ve had bad days, but now it’s all in the past. There’s only good things coming ahead.”

Buchecha wants to move on from his, at times, troubled relationship with ONE, and thanks his manager Ali Abdelaziz for walking him through this process. The American Top Team heavyweight said he was never given a reason as to why he wasn’t offered fights for many months.

“It crossed my mind many times to retire because I couldn’t take it no more, that was killing me inside,” Buchecha said. “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.”

“After I finished my contract, after I did all six fights,” he continued, “I had to wait that matching period, which every contact has, but I already knew what I wanted, that I didn’t want to re-sign with them. And I knew there would be something out there for me when the contract ended. So I did a camp focused on the contract deadline. I knew it would be just a matter of time. It has taken eight months, but I knew I would be free after eight months. And [after] signing with the UFC, which was my desire and dream, I knew the UFC would get me to fight quickly. Not for nothing, my contract ended now and I’m already fighting later this month. It’s been a dream for me.”

Buchecha debuts under the bright lights of the UFC inside the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, a city where he has shined many times in the past as a grappler.

“When they said the UFC wanted to sign me I said, ‘I don’t even want to know when and against who, get me a fight,’” Buchecha said. “[Buday] is ranked, he’s tough. He’s a veteran in the UFC because he already has seven fights and six wins there, so he’s very tough. He has a lot of experience, way more than me in the sport, but I’m driven by challenges. I’m sure this will be the biggest challenge of my career so far, but I’m excited.”