Thirteen-time BJJ world champion Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida makes his return to MMA on ONE Championship’s April 22nd card. His opponent will be Oumar Kane, more commonly referred to as ‘Reug Reug.’
Buchecha is currently 2-0 in mixed martial arts with two submission victories. He made his ONE Championship debut in September 2021, scoring a first round submission finish over Anderson Silva by north south choke. The jiu-jitsu ace followed that up with a rear naked choke victory over Kang Ji Won in December 2021. Kane currently has a 3-1 professional MMA record with three TKO finishes. In his last fight, Kane took on Kirill Grishenko in a fight where he was heavily favored. At the end of the second round, Grishenko landed a punch to Kane’s throat that rendered him unable to continue. He’ll look to bounce back from his first professional loss against Buchecha.
Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida made a name for himself on the jiu-jitsu scene competing under the IBJJF and ADCC banners. He was promoted to black belt by renowned coach Rodrigo Cavaca in 2010 after a successful run in the colored belts where he won many of the sport’s biggest titles. In addition to winning the IBJJF World Championships thirteen times, Buchecha also won the IBJJF Pan Ams, No-Gi Worlds, and ADCC twice. His style was characterized by his aggressiveness and willingness to always pursue the submission. After spending time training at AKA, Buchecha moved to Florida to train at American Top Team. Current ATT heavyweights include Junior dos Santos, Alexey Oleynik, and Andrei Arlovski, among others.
Oumar Kane started his journey in combat sports in Senegalese wrestling, a sport in which he had an undefeated record. The transition to mixed martial arts had its challenges as Kane had to adapt to a different ruleset that required different striking and grappling skills. Kane adapted well, parlaying the abilities he developed in Senagalese wrestling to take his opponents down and finish them with strikes. Although both Buchecha and Kane both come from a grappling background, their styles of grappling are vastly different. Kane will likely try to use his grappling to get top position while Buchecha will be more comfortable should he be put on his back.
Marcus “Buchecha” Alemida vs. Oumar “Reug Reug” Kane will be on a card headlined by Regian Eersel and Arian Sadikovic for the ONE lightweight kickboxing world championship on Friday April 22nd.
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