‘Buchecha’ says he’s “not sad” that ONE Championship did not sign Francis Ngannou

Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend and heavyweight contender Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida deems it unfortunate that world champion fighter Francis Ngannou was unable to sign with ONE Championship. But, he is fine with it as he feels there are still quality opponents under the promotion to take on.

Buchecha was looking forward to facing ‘The Predator’ when word came out that the latter was considering joining ONE after going to free agency earlier this year.

Francis Ngannou vacated the UFC heavyweight title before deciding to become a free agent over a long-standing contract dispute with his former employer.

Word had it that the camp of the Cameroonian-French fighter and ONE were already deep in negotiations until disagreements on certain “non-financial matters” forced the deal to fall through.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Buchecha said it would have been great to face off with Ngannou, who he considers one of the best heavyweight fighters. But he is moving on, channeling his focus on other quality fighters in his division.

The 17-time BJJ world champion said:

“[I’m] not really [disappointed]. Before him, I have so many fighters that I want to face in the organization. Of course, it’s going to be great to fight with one of the greatest but I have so many guys that I want to fight first. It would be great to fight him for sure but I’m not really sad about it.” [4:30 onwards]

Check out the interview below:

Buchecha has been undefeated in four fights since making his ONE debut in 2021.

All of his victories came by way of finishes inside the opening round, the latest of which came over Belarusian Kirill Grishenko by submission due to a heel hook just 64 seconds into the match.

He has expressed hope to finally get a shot at the ONE heavyweight world title that is still needed to be decided by reigning division king Arjan Bhullar and ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin later this year.