Ten-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, Marcus Almeida, better known as “Buchecha” is getting more and more interested in beginning his MMA career. At the ripe age of 25, he wants to get started as soon as possible. With a 2013 ADCC championship under his belt to go with his slew of other grappling accomplishments, the super heavyweight (over 221 lbs for BJJ) Rodrigo Cavaca blackbelt feels like the time is now:
“I always wanted to do it, I have always been curious about it, but I never rushed it. “Buchecha told Combate. “I always chased my goals in jiu-jitsu where I got 10 world titles, six of them as a blackbelt. Time goes by and after this injury in my knee I thought about many things, I don’t want to postpone it any further. As soon as I get better, I will start boxing, I’ve been thinking about this a lot.”
The injury on his left knee, which kept him away from this year’s ADCC, was the main reason behind his decision to start MMA sooner rather than later.
“The injury made me realize I was being vain for wanting to conquer so many things in jiu-jitsu while postponing MMA. I was healthy and got hurt, and I was postponing MMA because I was afraid of getting hurt. It can happen anytime.
Already having trained at MMA gyms like American Kickboxing Academy, Buchecha revealed that he already has proposals from big organizations, like World Series of Fighting.
“I once got a tempting proposal. Ali Abdel-Aziz told me it would be nice to debut at a big event. There was no negotiation or anything, but it made me think. Javier Mendez is always trying to get me a fight and I have to tell him to take it easy. I have been getting the cage experience at AKA. I got beat up. I didn’t mind the strikes, the session wasn’t that hard, but the headaches bothered me afterwards, I got punched in the head so much. They told me I would get used to it, though.”
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