Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida recently opened up about the challenges he’s faced since leaving Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for MMA, particularly after dropping a decision in his UFC debut.

Despite being the most decorated IBJJF World Champion in history and starting his MMA career with four straight first-round finishes, Buchecha now sits at 5-2 after back-to-back setbacks.

While many assume striking would be the toughest adjustment, Almeida explained that the real difficulty lies in combining everything together:

A lot of people talk about the striking. Of course, no one likes to take a punch, right?
But this is a thing that wasn’t the worst for me…

What I felt was very difficult about the transition was the mixing, right?

I’m there, I’m with the high guard, I’m trying… I grabbed him, I touched the leg, doing that isometry, boom, put it down.

Then I’m there advancing, in a little while the guy pushes me, boom, get up.
Then I have to go back, hand on foot again there.

He also pointed out that grappling in MMA feels very different from pure Jiu-Jitsu:

The reactions of everyone in MMA are completely different from the reactions of guys in Jiu-Jitsu.

When reflecting on his UFC debut specifically, Buchecha admitted that a rough training camp had an impact:

I had some injuries, right? In this camp…
It was the only MMA camp that I had this injury and it messed me up a lot.

So I went to the bout there without being 100% confident.

Despite the hurdles, the BJJ legend remains committed to chasing success in MMA:

Like when I lost in Jiu-Jitsu, dang, I trained to go to the next championship and that’s exactly what I’m thinking right now.

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