Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida breaks down most recent victory over Simon Carson

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida may be one of the best grapplers in history, but his latest victory against Simon Carson is a testament to his improvement as a more complete MMA fighter.

Since making the transition to MMA, Almeida has finished all three of his opponents in the first round of their matchup. At ONE 158, he scored his first TKO victory after Carson failed to defend against his dominant ground-and-pound.

In an interview with SCMP MMA, the Brazilian martial artist shared that while it was an unplanned finish, it was a conscious effort to take advantage of the position he was in.

‘Buchecha’ said:

“To be honest, I always look for the submission but I saw the position and I didn't even think twice so I just started using the ground-and-pound. Because I do that to force my opponent to open up and start defending and make mistakes. But I think the first punch was right on the spot so he had to defend himself and stop bumping and turned. So when I saw the first one that I really was hitting him, so you know, I have a good base, I have a good posture so I'm just going to keep punching. If he doesn't defend like, if he doesn't give any submission, the referee has to stop. So that's exactly what happened.”

He further revealed that he obliged the request of ONE color commentator Mitch Chilson to show him a move and he was happy to be able to execute it during the fight.

“I train a lot. So that's one position that I always get when I'm training when I'm doing the sparring sessions. And I was talking to Mitch before the fight and he asked me to show one movement and that was the movement that I showed him because that's something that I really do. So I wasn't surprised because I got the movement, because it's something that I train every day. So that's why I got in the fight and that's why it was so effective,” said Almeida.

Catch the full interview below:

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Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida will test his striking at ONE 161

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida has shown that he can have heavy hands, but he’ll be facing someone who’s made a career out of knocking people out.

Almeida is set to face former world title challenger Kirill Grishenko inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium at ONE 161, which is set to happen at U.S. primetime on August 26.

Grishenko owns three knockouts in his five professional MMA wins. He showcased his devastating power in his first two appearances in the circle, and will surely be a challenge for Almeida when they meet.