In a surprising, but heartwarming move of sportsmanship, Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida forfeited his match with Leandro Lo to give his would-be opponent the world championship title.
The gesture came after Lo dislocated his shoulder twice in the super heavyweight final against Mahamed Aly. Lo was slated to compete against Buchecha in the open weight final, but after his injury, it was expected that Buchecha would be awarded an automatic victory.
When the competitors took to the mat for Buchecha’s hand to be raised, though, the referee raised Lo’s hand instead, indicating that Buchecha had given up his guaranteed win.
Marcus Buchecha passes up a possible 12th career World gold medal and closes out the absolute final with his friend Leandro Lo, who injured his shoulder earlier and was unable to fight. pic.twitter.com/ODt2hu7dcq
— FloGrappling (@FloGrappling) June 4, 2018
Lo is now a six-time world champion; Buchecha won his eleventh world title against Joao Rocha in the ultra heavyweight division earlier today.
