It’s been a very long time coming indeed but Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida finally made his MMA debut at ONE FC Revolution and he put on a phenomenal display of the elite grappling talent that he’s known for. He experienced a string of setbacks dating back over the last year that have delayed his debut for the promotion over and over again but watching him work in the cage was certainly worth the wait in the end. Even as recently as just a few weeks ago he hit a minor snag when his original opponent dropped out of the fight and had to be replaced by Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva on very short notice.
The change of opponent meant that this became a typical striker v grappler matchup as Silva is a veteran kickboxer who fell just short of winning the Glory grand prix on two occasions. It was immediately clear that Buchecha was well aware of his opponent’s striking prowess because as soon as the bell rang for the fight to begin, he charged forward to hit a takedown on Silva. He worked his way through to mount incredibly quickly and started landing some heavy ground and pound in the process. Although Silva did recover guard, it wasn’t long before Buchecha started passing again and working on a head and arm choke from the top. He couldn’t secure the choke but managed to complete the pass and transitioned straight to north-south where he landed some utterly devastating knees to the head of Silva:
Buchecha’s grounded knees went AIRBORNE! ✈️ @MarcusBuchecha #ONERevolution #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/4hebCAvgNa
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 24, 2021
All of this took place within the first two and a half minutes of the fight and Silva hadn’t managed to mount any kind of offense so far. As the match headed towards the end of the third minute Buchecha slid into position to attack a north-south choke and although Silva tried to hold out, he couldn’t escape and was forced to tap at 2:55 of the first round. Buchecha could not have had a more successful debut for the promotion and although his MMA career has only just started, it looks like he’s ready to make a big impact on the ONE FC Heavyweight division.
BJJ legend Buchecha 🇧🇷 FINISHES Anderson Silva with a north-south choke in his mixed martial arts debut! 🥋 @MarcusBuchecha #ONERevolution #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/73ft7TYq78
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 24, 2021
The full event replay, including the MMA debut of Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida will be available to watch the ONE FC YouTube Channel, click here to watch.
