“It Was a Marketing Ploy” – Buchecha Believes Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Comments About Sambo Being Superior to BJJ Was Just Talk

Kade Ruotolo defeated Russian Uali Kurzhev to claim the ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Title at ONE on Prime Video 3 last Friday, October 21, adding another intense chapter in the rivalry between the two grappling-based martial arts.

That Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and sambo rivalry began years ago, when former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov – a Combat Sambo World Champion – famously sported a shirt that read “If sambo was easy it would be called jiu-jitsu.”

According to Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida, that shirt was nothing more than a cheeky way to build up a fight.

Marcus Almeida thought Khabib’s words were a form of promotion

“I think Khabib said that as a form of promotion. At the time he wore this shirt, he was going to face a jiu-jitsu black belt, Thiago Tavares. It’s been a long time, and he wore the shirt just to get attention. And it worked. A lot of people talked about it,” the multiple-time BJJ World Champion said.

Indeed, people are still talking about it, even after Ruotolo’s submission win over sambo’s Kurzhev.

 

But Almeida says that, despite that infamous t-shirt, Nurmagomedov respects jiu-jitsu and trained in it frequently throughout his undefeated MMA career.

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 “It was a marketing ploy because Khabib trains that half-guard control a lot by playing on top, crushing the opponent’s legs. And that was the result of a lot of jiu-jitsu training. I followed him training with Leandro Vieira, who was the American Kickboxing Academy jiu-jitsu coach at the time,” he pointed out.

Marcus Almeida revealed that Khabib himself trains jiu-jitsu

“I saw him teaching Khabib a lot of jiu-jitsu. Leandro is the brother of my master Leonardo Vieira, so I followed Khabib’s jiu-jitsu training very closely. Like I said, it was just a marketing ploy and it worked at the time. But the truth is that Khabib trains a lot of jiu-jitsu and used jiu-jitsu a lot in his fights.” 

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 Marketing ploy or not, it comes as no surprise that “Buchecha” thoroughly believes in the power of BJJ to overcome sambo. 

 “I think jiu-jitsu is more efficient than sambo. Not only is it more efficient than sambo, jiu-jitsu is more efficient than any other martial art. Sambo has a lot of focus on leg locks and jiu-notes covers everything, chokes, arm locks, leg locks, back control, mounts.”