Marcus Almeida isn’t happy with how things currently stand with ONE Championship.

Almeida, a jiu-jitsu legend who turned to MMA in 2021, is frustrated with the lack of fights he’s been presented by the organization since his last appearance – a showdown with Oumar Kane in August 2023. “Buchecha” makes his return Friday night at ONE Championship 169 in Bangkok. He takes on Amir Aliakbari in a heavyweight bout.

Almeida is not sure why it’s taken him 15 months to return to fighting, and he’s not content about it.

“No, I’ve been ready since the last fight,” Almeida told MMA Junkie when asked about why he’s been inactive. “Unfortunately that’s not up to me. That’s because of the organization, because I want to keep active, and I want to keep fighting, but I don’t know the reason to it. That’s why I was out. It wasn’t up to me.”

Almeida did have an active start to his MMA career. He competed four times in 11 months under ONE Championship. He was hoping the promotion would keep a slightly similar pace for him, as he’d like to fight at least three times a year, but that hasn’t been the case.

“In jiu-jitsu, I used to compete a lot, so to be sitting out for 15 months, for me, it was horrible,” Almeida explained. “It’s a bad experience for my career, and I’m not getting any younger, but it is what it is.”

Almeida told MMA Fighting’s Guillerme Cruz in Portuguese that Friday’s bout will be the last on his current contract. It’s unknown if he’ll re-sign with the promotion.

As of now, Almeida has one thing to focus on, and that’s his bout against Aliakbari, which he’s taking very seriously.

“We have like a similar record in ONE Championship,” Almeida said regarding Aliakbari. “Of course, he has a career before ONE, but he has four victories, I have four victories, and he has two loses, and I have one. So it’s pretty much similar to what we did in ONE Championship. Like I said, he fought Rizin and other events before that, so of course he has a lot of experience with me in MMA. He’s a tough opponent and has fought a lot of tough guys. It’s going to be a good fight, grappler vs. grappler, so it’s going to be really interesting for the audience.”

Following an unexpected 18-month layoff, former ONE flyweight champion Adriano Moraes is finally ready to make his return to action with a fight booked against Danny Kingad on Friday at ONE 169.

The long absence followed a trilogy of fights against Demetrious Johnson where Moraes became the first person in history to finish the former UFC champion before falling in their next two encounters. Johnson actually sat on his final win over Moraes for over a year before finally announcing his retirement from the sport in September.

While they may have been professional rivals in the cage, Moraes had nothing but praise for Johnson when addressing his former foe after he called it a career.

“I was happy for him,” Moraes told MMA Fighting. “I think he achieved a lot of things in his career. I think for him it was great to stop at the top of the division, at the top of his career. I think for him, he did everything he could to be one of the greatest of all time and he had a really great career. I think he wanted to stop on top of his career.

“He was the guy who opened the division for all of us flyweight fighters in this division. I remember I was a big fan of him for sure, I followed his career from the beginning. So for me to have this trilogy against him was amazing. To be part of his legacy and him to be part of my legacy. For me, it was one of the best things to ever happen. To be the first man to finish him for me, for my legacy, it’s really great.”

As much as Moraes wishes Johnson well in whatever he does next, the Brazilian isn’t totally convinced that “Mighty Mouse” won’t get that itch to compete again.

In a sport where it seems like nobody ever stays retired, Moraes can’t help but wonder if perhaps Johnson might eventually decide to come back for another fight.

“For me, it doesn’t matter [if we fight again],” Moraes said. “I just have to focus on my way but something tells me he’s going to come back. If I capture the belt again, maybe he can come back and we will have our fourth dance.”

When asked about Moraes’ comments, Johnson actually burst out laughing but not because he was mocking his former opponent.

Instead, Johnson made it clear that he’s resolved in his decision to stay retired and waiting for over a year after his last fight before making that announcement gave him time to see if he got the desire to compete again. By the time he declared that he was hanging up his gloves for good, Johnson knew definitively that he was done and there was no chance he was coming back.

“That was the whole point [about waiting],” Johnson told MMA Fighting. “Obviously everybody has so many different things going on in their life. I know Donald Cerrone … he’s done movies, he’s got his ranch, he’s got his children, he does scuba diving, he does so [many] things in his life that keep him busy. So maybe he wants to come back to get that 50 fights in the UFC.

“For me, mixed martial arts, competing, I get enjoyment out of doing it in jiu-jitsu and going into IBJJF and doing that stuff. So for me, I just don’t see a point to coming back.”

For now it doesn’t really matter if Johnson ever fights again because he’s not active and he already relinquished the ONE flyweight title on his way out the door.

In a perfect world, Moraes would be fighting for that belt on Friday but unfortunately that just wasn’t in the plans for ONE Championship just yet.

“I don’t know [why this fight isn’t for the title] but it’s not depending on me,” Moraes said. “It’s depending on the boss of the house.

“As an athlete, I have to train and prepare and fight everything they call me. I already defended my belt years ago against Danny Kingad. I think the belt should be on the line for sure but let’s see [what happens].”

Nick Cushing – one of the candidates for Arsenal women’s managerial vacancy – has seemingly ruled himself out of a return to the Women’s Super League.

The former Manchester City women’s boss emerged as an early candidate to replace Jonas Eidevall, but told a pre-match news conference he expects to still be with the Major League Soccer (MLS) side next season.

“The whole story is news to me,” Cushing said.

“There has been no contact from anybody outside this organisation with myself. I can confirm I will be here next year.”

The Gunners are still considering their options and have not yet conducted any interviews.

Last week Arsenal confirmed interim manager Renee Slegers will remain in charge until at least December.

Cushing, 39, is currently overseeing the best-of-three MLS Cup play-offs against Cincinnati.

Having won one game each, the winner of Saturday’s decider will progress to the semi-finals, with the MLS Cup taking place on 7 December.

Zach Scroggin failed to make a strong first impression ahead of his UFC debut.

The welterweight newcomer is stepping in on just four days’ notice for Nicolas Dalby to fight Elizeu Zaleski at UFC Vegas 100 this Saturday and it appears the short-notice booking wasn’t enough time for him to cut properly as he registered at 174 pounds at Friday’s official weigh-ins. Scroggin’s was three pounds over the limit for a non-title fight, which includes a one-pound allowance.

It is not yet known if the bout will proceed as a catchweight, and if so, what percentage of Scroggin’s purse will be forfeited as penalty.

Scroggin wasn’t the only fighter to miss weight. Bantamweight Melissa Mullins was the final fighter to step to the scale and she came in at 137, one pound over the bantamweight limit. The status of her bout with Klaudia Sygula is also still to be determined.

Welterweight headliners Neil Magny (171) and Carlos Prates (170.5) successfully weighed in without issue.

In 34 UFC bookings, Magny has never failed to make weight. He also holds the record for most wins by a welterweight in the promotion’s history at 22.

Shortly after the conclusion of the official weigh-ins, the UFC announced that Ricky Turcios vs. Benardo Sopaj has been cancelled due to a Turcios medical issue.

Check out UFC Vegas 100 weigh-in results below.

Main Card (ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET)

Neil Magny (171) vs. Carlos Prates (170.5)

Ricky Turcios (136) vs. Benardo Sopaj (136) — cancelled

Gerald Meerschaert (185) vs. Reinier de Ridder (185)

Luana Pinheiro (115.5) vs. Gillian Robertson (116)

Mansur Abdul-Malik (186) vs. Dusko Todorovic (185.5)

Preliminary Card (ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET)

Karolina Kowalkiewicz (115.5) vs. Denise Gomes (115)

Gaston Bolanos (135.5) vs. Cortavious Romious (136)

Elizeu Zaleski (171) vs. Zach Scroggin (174)*

Matthew Semelsberger (171) vs. Charlie Radtke (170.5)

Cody Stamann (135.5) vs. Da’Mon Blackshear (135.5)

Tresean Gore (186) vs. Antonio Trocoli (186)

Melissa Mullins (137)* vs. Klaudia Sygula (136)

*missed weight

LAS VEGAS – It was a rough day at the UFC Fight Night 247 weigh-ins.

Two fighters missed their marks on the scale. But even though he hit his mark, Ricky Turcios (12-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) was pulled from his bantamweight co-main event against Bernardo Sopaj (11-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC), it was announced after the official weigh-ins, for medical reasons.

That fight only had been elevated to the co-main event when an original matchup between former champion Cody Garbrandt and Miles Johns was scrapped when Garbrandt pulled out earlier in the week. Now the middleweight bout between UFC newcomer and former two-division ONE Championship titleholder Reinier de Ridder (17-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Gerald Meerschaert (37-17 MMA, 12-9 UFC) presumably will get the esteemed second-billed spot, though the UFC has not yet made a formal announcement of the changes.

It is not yet known which fight from the prelims will move up to the planned five-fight main card, though all the fights stream on ESPN+, regardless. UFC Fight Night 247 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

The new UFC Fight Night 247 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

• Neil Magny vs. Carlos Prates
• Reinier de Ridder vs. Gerald Meerschaert
• Luana Pinheiro vs. Gillian Robertson
• Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Dusko Todorovic

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)

• Denise Gomes vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
• Gaston Bolanos vs. Cortavious Romious
• Zach Scroggin vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
• Charlie Radtke vs. Matthew Semelsberger
• Da’Mon Blackshear vs. Cody Stamann
• Tresean Gore vs. Antonio Trocoli
• Melissa Mullins vs. Klaudia Sygula

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 247.