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Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida is about to make his eagerly awaited MMA debut following a glistening career in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The grappling icon will take on fellow Brazilian Anderson Silva at ONE: Revolution on Friday.
Fans have been waiting a long time to see what 'Buchecha' can do in a pair of MMA gloves. Having won a remarkable 13 world titles in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the 31-year-old has been linked with making the transition for several years.
'Buchecha' was brought in to be part of Daniel Cormier's camp while the former UFC star was training to fight then-UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, Buchecha said:
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"We trained at DC's gym house. It was good - it's always great to train with such big names like DC and Cain (Velasquez.) The first time I started training with them was in 2013 when I went for the first time to train wrestling with them for the ADCC. Since then, they became my friends. I had a lot of chances to learn some tricks with them and learn a little bit about the game. Now I train with many other legends in ATT."
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'Buchecha' isn't the first BJJ stalwart to foray into MMA
It's been quite a journey for 'Buchecha' to finally make his MMA debut. Since signing with ONE in 2020, the BJJ star has been matched with Oumar 'Reug Reug' Kane, Ji Won Kang, and Thomas Narmo. For various reasons, all of those bouts got canceled, and now he'll get to test his skills against a familiar face in Anderson Silva.
'Buchecha' is among several other jiu-jitsu wizards who have made their way into MMA. Almeida said, speaking about the same:
"There are a lot of other big names that came from jiu-jitsu to MMA. Charles Do Bronx, Demian Maia, guys like that who are really good. Especially Cara de Sapato because that's my old friend. We used to fight against each other when we were 18 years old and now his roommate and he did the transition really well. This is one of the guys that I look up to. Fabricio Werdum - world champion Gi and ADCC champion, became an MMA champion, so always good to see big names coming from jiu-jitsu and doing the transition to MMA."
Indeed, if 'Buchecha' tastes success in his MMA career as he did in BJJ, he's set to be a serious force in ONE's heavyweight division.
Watch the full interview below:
