‘Buchecha’ lists down the ‘legends of the sport’ that he looks up to in BJJ

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida shared some of the names in Brazilian jiu-jitsu that he believes are the biggest and the best to ever grace the sport.

Of course, Almeida is no slouch himself in the world of submission grappling, becoming a 17-time BJJ world champion before making a transition to mixed martial arts in 2021. Since then, ‘Buchecha’ has built an impressive 4-0 record with all of his victories coming in the very first round.

It should come as no surprise that Almeida has heavily leaned on his skills on the mat to establish himself as a legitimate heavyweight contender under the ONE Championship banner. While appearing on the Money Moicano podcast, ‘Buchecha’ spoke about his history with the sport and named a few of the BJJ legends that he believes are the best to ever do it.

“If you asked me who is the biggest one, of course, I'm on the list, but I'm not just going to say my name. But people that I think are legends of the sport are Roger Gracie, Marcelo Garcia, Leandro Lo, Rodolfo Vieira, Leo Vieira. In my opinion, this is the biggest stars, I think.”

Tragically, one of those men is no longer with us. Eight-time IBJJF world champion Leandro Lo was killed inside a Sau Paulo nightclub following an altercation on August 7, 2022.

‘Buchecha’ is scheduled to make his long-awaited return to action at ONE Fight Night 13 on August 4. Almeida will look to keep his 100% finish rate intact as he meets Senegalese knockout artist Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane in a bout that could very well become a heavyweight world 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.