‘Buchecha’ recalls debilitating self-doubt during his legendary BJJ career

Despite being one of the most decorated submission grapplers in the history of the sport, Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida had serious doubts as to whether or not he could continue competing.

The 17-time BJJ world champion will make his long-awaited return on August 4 for a clash with heavyweight knockout artist Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane. The pair will compete as part of the promotion’s stacked ONE Fight Night 13 card, emanating from the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

‘Buchecha’ goes into the bout undefeated in his mixed martial arts career and is on the cusp of a potential ONE world title opportunity. However, as it turns out, Almeida once thought his career was over long before making the move to MMA. Speaking on the JAXXON podcast, Almeida revealed that after undergoing reconstructive knee surgery, he was confident that his combat sports career was finished:

“Between, let's say the middle of my journey, jiu-jitsu worlds, I got hurt real bad, I got a surgery on my left knee, I got to like reconstruct three [parts of my] ligaments, and that was the hardest time of my life of my career.”

‘Buchecha’ continued:

“I had to go through a lot of things, I had a lot of doubts, I wasn’t sure if I was coming back to the sport, if I ever would do a double leg again, like to be able to do a shot, try and take somebody down.”

Fortunately, Almeida was able to fully recover and return to his winning ways. He’ll look to add another W to his illustrious career against Senegalese standout ‘Reug Reug’ on August 4.

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.