3x World absolute champion Marcus Buchecha Almeida had announced last month that his transition to MMA would happen sooner than many people expected.
Buchecha underwent surgery last August in Brazil for the knee injury that he sustained against Ricardo Evangelista during their 3rd round encounter at the Worlds back in May.
The surgery was to reconstruct the torn ACL ligament on his left knee. Buchecha’s doctor gave the champion a minimum of five months before coming back to 100% again.
Evangelista injured Buchecha as he went he went for a waiter sweep from half guard. Buchecha had to withdraw from the rest of the tournament.
He has won everything in BJJ: 6x world champion at black belt, ADCC 2013 champion, 3x World Pro champion. Buchecha wants to focus on MMA as soon as the new year.
Almost 100% recovered, Buchecha told Tatame about his future plans:
“The recovery is going very well, thank God it’s working fine. I chose to do the recovery in Brazil because my physical therapist Bruno Brito is here and I have much faith in his work, and now it’s been a while. It’s pretty difficult, I’ve never gone through through this. I’ve had several questions for a long time but today I’m sure I will come back with everything.
I’m back to strength training, but to be 100% it will take a little longer. At the beginning of next year I’ll be back 100% to training including with and without the Gi.
He also talked about his much awaited transition to MMA. His rival Rodolfo Vieira is headed to American Top Team to focus on MMA. Buchecha is also following the same path:
“Especially after that injury, I never thought so much in MMA as I’m thinking right now. So as soon as I get back to California, I will focus on training in Muay Thai Boxing and Wrestling. Jiu-Jitsu is the flagship, I never stopped training, but as soon as I get back I’m going to train enough new areas that I don’t know much.
With BJJ still being considered an amateur sport, many sport BJJ competitors look to transitioning to MMA.Examples of current top MMA fighters that came from sport Jiu-Jitsu: Jose Aldo, Fabricio Werdum, Ronaldo Jacare, Demian Maia, Bibiano Fernandes etc..
Here are the 5 top sport BJJ players that have a great potential for a crossover in the MMA world.
Here is a short clip of Buchecha working on his striking:
