3 reasons why Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida deserves a heavyweight title shot

While he's only just starting his transition, Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida challenging for the ONE heavyweight world title might just be a plausible idea.

Yes, he’s only three fights into his mixed martial arts career, but the Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend has already proven that he can dominate in the multi-faceted sport.

ONE Championship continues to build its heavyweight roster and Almeida has shown that he not only belongs in the division, but that he’s more than capable of dominating his opponents.

‘Buchecha’ is 3-0 in MMA and all three of his wins happened in the first round. The 17-time BJJ world champion seamlessly used his grappling to great effect with his first two wins ending in submission.

While his MMA career is relatively young, Almeida has already displayed a savviness that has been built through years of fighting and he could very well take a crack at the ONE heavyweight world title in the near future.

With that said, here's three reasons why Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida deserves a heavyweight title shot.

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#3. The legendary BJJ legacy of Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida

Almeida’s submission grappling career is almost incomparable that it’s fitting to be written in legend.

The 32-year-old is a 17-time BJJ world champion with title wins in the IBJJF, ADCC, and Abu Dhabi World Cup. He also won gold medals in the Pan American Championship and Nogi World Championship.

‘Buchecha’ has also beaten the best names in BJJ, including Garry Tonon, Andre Galvao, Nicholas Meragali, Alexandre Ribeiro, Roberto Abreu, and Kron Gracie.

It was this near-mythical BJJ background that allowed Almeida to quickly grasp MMA and his two quick submission wins to start his career were just the perfect evidence of that.

Even his third win, which he took via knockout, he showed glimpses of his devastating ground game.

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#2. A quick and easy MMA transition for ‘Buchecha’

Almeida’s transition into MMA has been nothing but seamless. In the three matches he’s fought, the hulking Brazilian was a picture of fortitude yet at the same time was capable of exploding for a powerful burst of devastating offense.

His MMA debut was against Brazilian brawler Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva and Almeida had no problem imposing his will against the heavy-hitting heavyweight.

‘Buchecha’ wasted no time sending the match to the ground and it was there that he locked in a north-south choke to submit Silva 2:55 into the opening round of their September 2021 bout.

Almeida then had a quick turnaround for his next fight when he took on knockout artist Kang Ji Won in December of the same year. Just like his match against Silva, the fight ended in another quick submission.

Despite being a natural submission grappler, ‘Buchecha’ showed how crafty he was on the feet landing crisp front kicks that kept the South Korean at bay. Then, barely a minute into the fight, the Brazilian superstar shot for an explosive double-leg takedown that immediately dragged Kang into dangerous territory.

Taking control on the ground, Almeida got on Kang’s back and immediately locked in a gripping rear-naked choke to take his win 2:27 into the contest.

Already with two submission wins, ‘Buchecha’ displayed that he can knock people out when he took on Simon Carson earlier this month. Utilizing an explosion of a double-leg takedown, Almeida sent the match to the ground once again and that was truly the beginning of the end for Carson.

Once he took the mount, Almeida sent brutal punishment from up above that forced referee Olivier Coste to call a stop to the match 2:24 into the first round.

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#1. Anatoly Malykhin and Arjan Bhullar have already taken notice

There’s nothing more satisfying than when a fighter gets the praise of his peers, especially if those contemporaries are sitting atop the sport.

Both ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar and Anatoly Malykhin, the ONE interim heavyweight world champion, have taken notice of Almeida’s massive development in MMA.

Malykhin, who’s unabashed in his callouts, challenged ‘Buchecha’ to a BJJ match back in May, expressing his willingness to jump into the territory of the Brazilian grappling legend.

As for ‘Buchecha’, he’s been nothing but appreciative of the attention that Malykhin and Bhullar have given him.

Following his victory against Carson, Almeida said in his post-fight interview that he’s proud of his newfound notoriety in MMA.

“Oh, man. How can I say no? So even if I say no, I would be lying. So for me to hear about these guys telling such good things about me, about my career. It's a big honor because like both of them are really big names in the sport. And it's good to know that they're watching the beginning of my career. So of course, that means a lot and I feel honored.”