Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida has just experienced not only a change of opponents for his third professional MMA fight but also a change of event as well, as the fight has been postponed until ONE 157 on May 20th. Buchecha was originally scheduled to compete against Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane at ONE: Reloaded on April 22nd but unfortunately Kane was forced to withdraw from the fight due to injury. This might sound familiar to anyone following Buchecha’s promising MMA career as his debut was actually scheduled against the very same opponent but was also cancelled when Buchecha suffered a knee injury in training.
Despite a number of setbacks over the last few years, Buchecha has still managed to impress in his first two professional MMA fights. He looked fantastic in his professional debut against GLORY Kickboxer Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva and won the fight by submission in the very first round and experienced very little damage in doing so. This is what allowed him to make a quick turnaround and step into the cage for his second fight within less than three months of his debut. He came up against undefeated Korean heavyweight striker Kang Ji Won and made short work of him too, also submitting him in the very first round.
At ONE 157, Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida will experience something of a change of pace as he will be fighting a fellow grappler in Hugo ‘Silverback’ Cunha, a BJJ black belt and former member of the Brazilian national wrestling team. While Cunha isn’t as decorated as the thirteen-time IBJJF world champion Buchecha, he will bring a new challenge to him as the first grappler that he has fought in MMA. Cunha is coming off a loss in his ONE Championship debut against Dustin Joynson but he finished all six of his previous opponents leading up to that fight and will not be an easy match for Buchecha as he looks to move forward in his MMA career after calling it a day in BJJ.
The addition of Buchecha v Cunha to the ONE 157 card has just added more excitement to an already fantastic event. Both of the Ruotolo brothers will be making their promotional debuts as they take on Garry Tonon and Shinya Aoki in a pair of stunning grappling matches, while the quarter-finals of the ONE Championship Flyweight Muay Thai grand prix will also take place. All of this is before the main event matches that will see Prajanchai PK Saenchai and Petchmorakot Petchyindee defending the Strawweight and Featherweight Muay Thai titles respectively.
The full ONE 157 event, including Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida v Hugo Cunha, will be available to watch live on May 20th and will either be broadcast as part of their deal with Amazon Prime or on the ONE Championship YouTube Channel, click here to watch.
