‘Buchecha’ believes good friend Adriano Moraes will become champion again: “It’s just a matter of time”

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida believes his friend and former ONE world champion Adriano Moraes will climb back to the top of the mountain once again.

Moraes competed in one of the most iconic trilogies in MMA history, going toe-to-toe with flyweight GOAT Demetrious Johnson in three critically-acclaimed clashes that ultimately saw ‘Mighty Mouse’ walk away with the ONE flyweight world championship and a truckload of bragging rights.

For now, Adriano Moraes’ days of competing for a world title may be over, but ‘Buchecha’ believes it’s just a matter of time before ‘Mikinho’ finds his way back to the top:

“And he's already wanting to fight again, he wants to retrace his path towards the belt, and I think he'll succeed,” Almeida told ONE Championship in a recent interview. “It's just a matter of time.”

Moraes is one of the promotion’s most decorated fighters, capturing the flyweight title on three separate occasions and owning an impressive 73% finish rate under the ONE banner alongside 20 career victories.

We certainly can’t predict the future, but if there’s any fighter that can rise up after a hard fall, it’s Adriano Moraes.

As for ‘Buchecha,’ the 17-time BJJ world champion will make his own return this Friday night when ONE heads back to the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok for ONE Fight Night 13. Marcus Almeida is scheduled to square off against heavyweight knockout artist Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane in what could become a heavyweight title eliminator.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch all the action at ONE Fight Night 13 live and for free in U.S. primetime on August 4.