"Ready and waiting" - BJJ legend Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida hints at highly anticipated next fight

17-time BJJ world champion Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida is ready to get back inside the Circle. He's just waiting on the call.

'Buchecha' was on an unstoppable march at the start of his young MMA career, taking four straight wins by first-round stoppage. That run, however, came to a halt in his fifth fight at ONE Fight Night 13.

On that night, the Brazilian submission specialist went to war with Senegalese standout Oumar 'Reug Reug' Kane. After three intense rounds of back-and-forth action, Kane came out on top, handing 'Buchecha' his first loss under the ONE banner.

Despite the setback, Almeida is still considered one of the heavyweight division's most exciting prospects, and he's chomping at the bit to get back to work.

"Let’s start one more week, ready and just waiting for the call!" Almeida wrote on Instagram.

Marcus Almeida kickstarted his mixed martial arts career with a perfect 4-0 record, dispatching Anderson 'Braddock' Silva, Kang Ji Won, Simon Carson, and Kirill Grishenko via first-round finishes.

After absorbing his first loss, 'Buchecha' was by no means deterred from further pursuing the sport.

“I’m training, evolving every day, studying a lot of BJJ as it’s my best weapon,” Almeida told BJPenn.com. I want to improve and do something good in this sport, so I’m putting 100 percent into this.”

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'Vanilla Thunder' Ben Tynan volunteers to welcome back 'Buchecha'

As far as who Almeida could face in his long-awaited return, there appears to be one man more than willing to volunteer for the job.

Rising heavyweight contender Ben Tynan has seemingly become a star overnight following his first-round destruction of Duke Didier at ONE Fight Night 21. His brash attitude, penchant for highlight-reel-finishes, and his Ric Flair-esque appearance have immediately attracted the attention of fight fans.

'Vanilla Thunder' hopes he can use some of that clout to bag a fight with the BJJ icon.

"Buchecha is coming off a loss, but I would love to beat him up though," Tynan told Sportskeeda MMA. "Considering he's a jiu-jitsu guy, and you know, there's a bit of rivalry between jiu-jitsu and wrestling."

He added:

"Not that there should be but I feel like the inner 10-year-olds and the whole wrestling and BJJ community love comparing themselves. The inner 10-year-old in me wants to beat up Buchecha."

Do you want to see ONE Championship's new Canadian destroyer test his skills against one of the greatest grapplers of all time?