August 26 (Friday) marks the date of Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida’s biggest MMA career test so far, as he will face Kirill Grishenko – the former ONE Championship interim title challenger – at ONE on Prime Video 1.
Even though he has just three fights in his young MMA career, there’s a good chance that Buchecha could find himself in a heavyweight title fight if he beats Grishenko.
However, Almeida also understands that all things that are worthwhile take time. He learned that through his BJJ journey, as explained to the Grappling Insider:
I have a lot of steps before I get there [to the title fight]. That’s how I see it.
When I was a blue belt, my dream wasn’t to be a black belt world champion, it was to be a blue belt world champion. So I think, take steps, step by step, so I don’t try to rush it.
I want to win this fight. I want to do good, I want to show my best and show improvement, and then I think about my next step, but I don’t like to skip anything, any part of the process.
More than anything else, he is enjoying the process and feels like a complete fighter:
Because I’m really enjoying [it], I’m having a good time. I’m learning every day, every sparring session I feel better.
I feel like a complete MMA fighter, not just a grappler fighting inside the cage.
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In so far as his fight against Grishenko is concerned, Marcus doesn’t just want to win – but he wants to win as efficiently as possible:
My goal is always to get the job done in the first round, so if I can get the submission, I will squeeze it as hard as I can to make him tap.
But if not, I’m ready to fight against him for 15 minutes.
Cardio isn’t going to be a problem:
I don’t need to prove to anyone that I have cardio.
I have ADCC matches for 30 minutes. People know that if I need to, I’ll do it. My last ADCC final was 30 minutes. Of course, it’s a different sport, but I’m used to long fights.
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