Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida suggests next evolution for ONE’s submission grappling is an openweight

17-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida believes an openweight submission grappling tournament is the next logical step for ONE Championship.

The Brazilian's suggestion comes after the promotion announced a massive openweight Muay Thai tournament earlier this year. He told ONE:

“An openweight of submission grappling is something that makes a lot of sense. I’m a guy who’s always been into fighting at weight and openweight, and I’ve always liked the openweight concept, with the chance for champions from other divisions to face each other. The absolute champion is the best of the year.”

The promotion has steadily bolstered its roster of submission grapplers over the last year with blockbuster signings, including Danielle Kelly, Mikey Musumeci, and Kade and Tye Ruotolo.

Currently, many of those fighters compete in different weight classes. An openweight tournament would allow fans to witness dream matches that only exist on fantasy booking sheets at the moment.

ONE Championship fans will get their first glimpse at the craziness of an openweight tournament later this year with the ONE Openweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix. It will allow the greatest strikers in the world across multiple weight classes to compete against one another like never before.

Announced in January, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong confirmed that the first entrant in the 16-man tournament was 100-fight veteran and former one-time ONE world title challenger Sinsamut Klinmee.

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‘Buchecha’ is chomping at the bit to compete in ONE’s submission grappling division

It’s quite surprising that Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida hasn’t put his submission grappling skills to the test inside the circle as of yet.

The Brazilian BJJ specialist is one of the most decorated practitioners in the history of the sport, but with a shot at the ONE heavyweight world championship looming large, Almeida is putting all his efforts into developing a well-rounded skillset to compete against the baddest fighters in the world.

Still, ‘Buchecha’ can’t help but dream about putting his grappling skills to the test against the best in the world under the ONE Championship banner:

“Every [submission grappling] fight I watch makes me more excited to one day fight in ONE’s submission grappling division,” Almeida revealed.

Currently, ‘Buchecha’ is 4-0 in mixed martial arts competition. Boasting a 100% finish rate, Almeida is yet to see a second round inside the circle. Across four fights, he has only 8:50 total fight time, averaging out to just 2:12 per encounter.

His most impressive appearance to date came at ONE on Prime Video 1 in August, when he submitted former ONE interim heavyweight title challenger Kirill Grishenko via heel hook just 64 seconds into the contest.