Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida is now officially an MMA fighter.
The 13-time BJJ world champion and two-time ADCC gold medalist made his MMA debut in Singapore this Friday morning and fought kickboxing fighter Anderson “Braddock” Silva in a heavyweight fight at ONE Championship: Revolution and won in less than three minutes.
“Buchecha” wasted no time on his feet, he got a knockdown in the first seconds of the game and immediately got the mount. Almeida combined a couple of strikes from the position before moving to lateral control and then north to south, landing his knees on his head. “Buchecha” finally blocked an accelerator from north to south to force Silva to tap out.
Almeida said in his post-fight:
“It’s like a dream coming true. Starting a new sport from zero, something hard, but my life is about challenges. I did everything in jiu-jitsu so I don’t feel I have anything else to prove, so I decided to start a new career in MMA and that was the first step of feeling great, feeling blessed. I’m really thankful.”
“Buchecha” didn’t think the choke was effective and his instructor Leo Vieira told him to keep going:
“He was locking my arm and I heard my coach Leonardo Vieira say ‘wait for the right moment’ and then when I locked the hands together I couldn’t get a good grip,” he said. “Leo said ‘he’s about to tap,’ so it’s now or never. I squeezed as hard as I could and he tapped.
“I didn’t say I would submit him in the first round, I said in the perfect world that would be perfect, a first-round submission, so the perfect world happened for me.”
Buchecha’s grounded knees went AIRBORNE! ✈️ @MarcusBuchecha #ONERevolution #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/4hebCAvgNa
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 24, 2021
BJJ legend Buchecha 🇧🇷 FINISHES Anderson Silva with a north-south choke in his mixed martial arts debut! 🥋 @MarcusBuchecha #ONERevolution #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/73ft7TYq78
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 24, 2021
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.
