‘Buchecha’ happy to be part of ONE Championship’s burgeoning roster of elite grapplers

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida is extremely happy to be part of ONE Championship’s burgeoning roster of elite submission grapplers.

When the martial arts organization reintroduced submission grappling at ONE X last March, millions of jiu-jitsu fans tuned in to watch the exciting matches. ONE Championship boasted record highs in viewership over the past year, which can partly be attributed to their recent signings of some of the world's most talented grapplers, including Marcus Almeida, Danielle Kelly, and Mikey Musumeci.

In an interview with SCMP MMA, Buchecha spoke proudly about being part of the growing roster. He said:

“Man, it's amazing, you know, what ONE Championship is doing for grappling. It's something unbelievable, and I'm just really happy to be part of all that. I hope that when I was just fighting grappling, I had the opportunity to do such a thing, like a great opportunity like that. So I'd just like to say thank you very much, and congratulations for that, for ONE Championship and Chatri. Because they're doing an amazing job for sure. They're stepping up the grappling to another level. I'm really happy to be part of that and be able to watch that really close.”

The work, however, is far from over for ONE. There’s talks about introducing the first grappling ONE world title in jiu-jitsu. Although there are a lot of exciting changes happening, Buchecha said he’s sticking to MMA for the time being.

“And maybe soon, I'll be stepping up and fighting some grappling too, because that's something that I’ll always love my whole life. But I feel like it didn't make sense anymore to keep fighting in grappling, because I did everything in the sport pretty much. Maybe I'll do some grappling again, but not right now. Right now I'm focused on MMA, but it will be really interesting.”

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Buchecha is focused on his next big matchup against Kirill Grishenko

Buchecha seems to have razor-sharp focus going into his biggest matchup to date against heavyweight standout Kirill Grishenko at ONE on Prime Video 1.

On his Instagram page, the American Top Team fighter has shown rapid signs of improvement in his striking and wrestling.

With 3 straight wins in MMA, Marcus Almeida is becoming one of the most dangerous fighters on the roster. If he beats Grishenko on August 26, Buchecha will be that much closer to being a top-ranked heavyweight contender.

Grishenko, on the other hand, will be equally challenged. The Belarusian fighter has acquired a total of 5 wins, all of which came via stoppage; however, he hasn’t ever fought an opponent like Almeida. It’s going to be intriguing to see how this fight will pan out.