Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida has blown the ONE Championship heavyweight division wide open since debuting in 2021.
The 17-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion has amassed four straight wins with four first-round finishes, the most recent of which came at ONE on Prime Video 1 against Kirill Grishenko.
The six-foot-three Brazilian believes that his ultimate goal of becoming a world champion in MMA is nearly within his reach. His strength of schedule would appear to absolutely support that.
In an interview with ONE Championship, ‘Buchecha’ made his position clear:
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“I have no one to challenge. But I am an employee of the company and the mission given to me I will be ready. I'm sure I'm getting closer to my goal, which is to fight for the title and win the belt. I have four fights and four wins.”
He added:
“Among the heavyweights, I'm the guy who's been fighting the most, so I'm on the right track. I'm sure I'll get this chance to fight for the belt soon.”
With all four of his pro MMA wins coming in less than 12 months, ‘Buchecha’ is seemingly on a one-way collision course with ONE Championship gold.
“I live for today” - ‘Buchecha’ talks about the greatest lesson he learned from friend Leandro Lo
Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida, a 17-time BJJ world champion who has blitzed to 4-0 in his MMA career, credits his late friend Leandro Lo with teaching him some vital life lessons.
His countryman tragically passed away several months ago, but not before passing on some of knowledge and experience. Following an altercation at a party in São Paulo, Lo took a fatal gunshot to the head and died.
In an emotional interview with ONE Championship, Almeida spoke about the lessons that his friend had taught him before his untimely death.
"This was a lesson I learned from a friend of mine, who was one of the most important people in my life and who taught me a lot. He taught me to live today, the present, and live intensely. He's gone, but he taught me a lot. And that's what I bring to my life, not only what he taught me, but many other things, so I'm thinking about today, living intensely like there's no tomorrow. I don't worry about tomorrow. I live for today, I live for now, because life is now.”
‘Buchecha’ remembered his late friend by racking up another win on his MMA record, a first-round heel hook submission over Kirill Grishenko at ONE on Prime Video 1.