Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida’s long-awaited mixed martial arts debut is just around the corner. He will step into the octagon for the first time on September 24 at the “ONE: Revolution” event, albeit with a different opponent than initially expected; Anderson “Braddock” Silva is stepping in instead of Thomas Narmo.

Buchecha is one of the most successful BJJ athletes ever, with 13 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world championships to his name. There were discussions about his transition to mixed martial arts, but it was not officially announced until last year when it was revealed that Almeida signed a multi-year contract to participate in the ONE Championship heavyweight competition. With that said, he hasn’t competed in Jiu-Jitsu since the 2019 ADCC championships, where he earned silver.
On the flipside, Anderson “Braddock” Silva is a kickboxing veteran with a 52-20-1 record in kickboxing; and with a 3-1 record in MMA. However, his last official MMA match has been in 2018, when he lost via first-round knockout. Since then, he has lost an amateur bout on The Ultimate Fighter Season 28 – and has only competed in the realm of professional kickboxing (under ONE Championship).

So, who has a bigger chance of winning in the end? It’s hard to say, especially given that both fighters have distinct areas of expertise. Silva is a skillful striker, whereas Buchecha is one of the best grapplers in the world; therefore, whichever athlete manages to best impose their specific skillset is most likely to go home with a “W”.

The fighter gave an interview to the Brazilian podcast “Trocção Franca”, on the MMA Fighting website, and revealed that his transition to MMA took longer than expected due to the fact that, initially, he did not receive the recognition he expected from an MMA organization, where he chose not to mention the name.

“I was treated like anyone else, like another one. I’m not just someone else, right? For everything I’ve done in the sport, I must have more recognition. That let me down a lot at the time.”

“But it was just one promotion. They played their role. They even said, ‘That’s what we offer and many people take it.’ OK, but it doesn’t work like that for me. It kind of let me down and I continued in jiu-jitsu. I was focused. I didn’t want to do something when in doubt, so I continued in jiu-jitsu.”

Buchecha continued competing in Jiu-Jitsu and broke Roger Gracie’s record by winning 13 golds at the IBJJF world championships at black belt.

“I was like, ‘You know what, my life won’t change if I win one or two more world [titles], so it’s time. I’ve proven what I had to prove. It’s time to prove something to myself now.”

The jiu-jitsu icon started training at AKA and Kings MMA before settling for ATT:

On his first months training MMA:

“The first four months were a shock. It’s a whole other sport. I saw that my jiu-jitsu didn’t work, ‘my jiu-jitsu sucks,’ but it’s just different. Jiu-jitsu guys think they’ll come in and take people down and catch them, but they won’t. It’s different.

“I remember taking people down and they’re getting back up, taking their backs and they would end up on top. It was very frustrating. I was losing positions on a daily basis that there was no way I would lose training jiu-jitsu. It was very frustrating at first.”

“It was tough at first, but now I’m adapting better. I still have a lot to get better at, of course, but I did better than I expected. I remember having headaches after every sparring session and everybody saying it was normal. They would throw 11 punches and land 12 in the beginning [laughs], it was hard to escape. I got hit a lot, had headaches after every sparring, but started getting better with [managing] the distance and getting hit less, so I don’t feel that anymore.

“That’s something I said, ‘If I’m still feeling like that after the first year, my career is over. I won’t compete anymore, I won’t try.’ It was some concern I had at first, but it ended quickly.”

Finish fights in the gi with this 4-part guide to leg locking mastery from Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida.

• Buchecha is a record 13-Time black belt World Champion in the gi, with a unique blend of technical skill and dynamic motion.
• Submit from top and bottom position, including with Buchecha’s signature spinning kneebar that he has used many times at black belt.
• Win with leg locks from 50/50 and stop getting slowed down by this common grappling position.
• Use kneebars, toe holds, foot locks, calf slicers, and more to effectively get more submissions than ever in gi grappling.