Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida explains why it’s important to have multiple game plans against Anatoly Malykhin

In the time that he spent waiting for his next contest inside the circle, Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida has been plotting his next move.

The Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist finds himself at the top of the heavyweight division, with four wins all coming via finish since transitioning from submission grappling to MMA.

Unfortunately for ‘Buchecha’, there is a fight that must happen first before he gets the shot at the world championship that he has been waiting for.

At ONE Fight Night 8 on Prime Video, heavyweight titleholders Arjan Bhullar and Anatoly Malykhin will finally unify the division’s top prize. Fans and fighters have waited to see the matchup for a long time.

Whilst Bhullar is the current heavyweight world champion, it is the interim champ Malykhin who many people believe to be the best fighter in the division. In 2022, he was recognized as ONE Championship’s MMA Fighter of the Year after he became a two-division king.

In an interview with SCMP MMA, Marcus Almeida spoke about the challenges that Malykhin brings to the table and how he would approach a fight with him:

“My game is like, of course, I have like plan A, B, [and] C. If you can stop my shots, I would try something else. If he took me down, I would play the bottom game. Of course, he has great takedown defense, but that’s the beauty of fighting. I will put my jiu-jitsu on the table and he would go put his wrestling on the table. That’s the beauty of MMA. You will watch a great fight for sure.”

Watch the full interview below:

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Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida shoots down Kirill Grishenko rematch

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida has been on an incredible run since transitioning to MMA and he isn’t ready to let rematches slow down his progress.

In under a year, the 17-time BJJ world champion produced four wins inside the circle with all four being finishes, launching himself into contention for a world championship.

His most recent win came at ONE on Prime Video 1 in August, when he submitted Belarusian fighter Kirill Grishenko in just over a minute. After making such a big statement against Grishenko, Almeida recently spoke about how he isn’t interested in taking rematches, especially in fights where he won them convincingly.

In the same interview, ‘Buchecha’ spoke about his current options for his next fight:

“To be honest, all the opponents that I submitted, they all ask for a rematch. Of course, in one minute he couldn’t show what he was training for, but I could. I don’t see myself doing rematches with anyone that I fought.”

With Almeida having his eyes set on the world championship, he appears happy to wait for his opportunity rather than retreading old ground. Whilst his opponents will always have an excuse for why the rematch will play out differently, that’s not how he sees it.