Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida Comments on Future in BJJ Competition

Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida is likely the most accomplished jiu-jitsu practitioner currently competing in MMA. Now 1-0 as a professional and expected to return soon to ONE Championship for his second career bout, Almeida seems to have turned his full attention to MMA. But as recently as 2019, Almeida was still on top of the grappling world, winning double gold at the IBJJF Worlds and silver at the ADCC World Championships.

But is Almeida done with BJJ competition? In a recent interview with FanSided MMA, Almeida touched on his future in jiu-jitsu and broke down his upcoming fight against Ji Won Kang.

On his future in jiu-jitsu competition:

Being honest right now, I never said I retired from the sport. But right now I don’t see, I don’t have any motivation to fight so there is no one that I really want to fight. I fought all those guys that I really want to fight. Of course the new generation, I didn’t fight many of those guys. But being honest, that’s not something that I really want to do right now. But maybe in the future something will come up that makes sense, but right now I don’t feel like it.

On his next opponent, Ji Won Kang. Almeida and Kang will fight at ONE Championship: Winter Warriors on December 3.

Such a tough guy. He got heavy hands. He got knockout power. And I know if I do a mistake, I’m gonna pay the price. He’s 5-0, undefeated, and I know it’s gonna be a big challenge for me…

I’m training a lot of wrestling, striking, and jiu-jitsu. I don’t want to be the kind of guy that just has one level, if my jiu-jitsu doesn’t work I’m gonna get knocked out, TKO, whatever. So I don’t want to be that kind of fighter. That’s why I try to be the most complete as possible. Of course, if I have to fight striking against him, I’m confident to do that. If I’m able to take the fight to the ground, I’ll try to do that too… If I have to fight 15 minutes, I’m ready to do that.