LOOK: ‘Buchecha’ sharpens tools with heavyweight legend Junior Dos Santos at ATT
17-time BJJ world champion and undefeated ONE heavyweight fighter Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida is deep into his preparations for his bout with Senegalese wrestling icon Oumar 'Reug Reug' Kane at ONE Fight Night 13. With perhaps one more high-profile win away from realizing his first MMA world title shot, the Brazilian grappling icon is not leaving any stone unturned in his preparation.
In a recent photo shared to Almeida's Instagram page, we saw the jiu-jitsu icon rolling with some world-class talent.
Here's the post:
"Heavy Weight Paradise!"
Heayvweight paradise indeed. If training and sparring with these behemoths don't make you better at fighting, nothing will. This motley crew of some of the most dangerous heavyweights and light heavyweights include former UFC fighter Augusto Sakai, Antonio Carlos Junior, Marcos Rogerio 'Pezao' de Lima, Marcelo Golm, Francisco Trinaldo, and former UFC heavyweight world champion, Junior 'Cigano' dos Santos.
The combined record of all the fighters in the photo, excluding 'Buchecha' is 119-46. That's a lot of greatness and experience in just one photo. The gym where they train, American Top Team (ATT), is reputed as being one of the powerhouses in MMA.
Some of the team's most notable fighters include former 3-time ONE flyweight world champion Adriano Moraes, former UFC world champions like the aforementioned Dos Santos, Tyron Woodley, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Glover Teixeira and newly-crowned UFC flyweight world champion Alexandre Pantoja. Given the team's pedigree, it's no surprise 'Buchecha' made such a successful transition into MMA.
Almeida's bouts, all of which were under ONE Championship banners, ended inside the first round. His combination of unstoppable grappling and a rapdily-developing striking game has become a puzzle that is yet to be solved inside the Circle. His most recent win, a heel-hook submission win over Kirill Grishenko, lasted just over a minute.
'Reug Reug' better come prepared if he is to make it out of the first round against 'Buchecha.'
ONE Fight Night 13 goes down on August 4 at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium and will stream live and free on Prime Video in North America.