‘Buchecha’ on his respect and admiration for the late Leandro Lo: “Leandro was and will always be one of the greatest”

The world of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu has not seen a friendship quite like Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida and the late great Leandro Lo. 'Buchecha', who is now an MMA fighter fighting under the ONE Championship banner, is a 17-time BJJ world champion while Lo was the only man to win eight world titles in five different weight classes.

The two legendary Brazilian jiu-jitsu masters were two of the most definitive grapplers of their era. Not only were they close friends, Almeida and Lo were also fierce competitors who never held back every time they met on the mats.

Lo tragically passed away last year after getting shot during an altercation in a nightclub in São Paulo. 'Buchecha' was absolutely crushed by the death of his best friend and has publicly paid tribute to his legendary career.

In a recent post by Almeida, the BJJ icon once again spoke about his best friend:

"'Living in the present! I Keep this with me, I don’t like saving anything in this life. All I have is now.' - Leandro Lo"

The clip in the post was part of the recent documentary on Almeida, which was released a few weeks ago. The BJJ legend spoke about Lo's selfless act of letting the younger Almeida advance to the finals of the 2018 Worlds Absolutes.

'Buchecha' said in the caption:

"This was just one of the many life lessons I learned from Leandro who was like a brother to me. I learned a lot on the mat with him in terms of techniques and strategies but I learned a lot more off the mats with him, valuable life lessons that will stay with me forever!"

He continued:

"Many people only saw what happened at the 2018 Worlds when we closed out the Absolute division ,but no one saw what he had done in 2016 when he gave up on his dream and let me go straight to the final of the open weight that year."

'Buchecha' ended the caption with:

"Leandro was and will always be one of the greatest in the history of the sport for everything he did."

An athlete of the caliber of Lo is someone who will plow his way to the top and will do everything he can to stay there. Such is the fiery competitiveness of a legendary fighter like him. To step aside and give way for his best friend to reach his dream - even if it means losing your spot at the top - is something only a man who has the heart of gold can do.

'Buchecha' and Leandro Lo indeed had one of the best friendships not just in Jiu-jitsu but in all of combat sports history combined.