Marcus "Buchecha" Almeida is a Brazilian heavyweight from the Santos area of São Paulo and one of the most successful gi competitors of the 2010s. Competing for Checkmat, he won IBJJF World titles at black belt in seven different years between 2012 and 2019, including a record number of absolute titles at the time, and took ADCC gold in 2013 and 2017. Since 2021 he has fought MMA, first in ONE Championship and now in the UFC.
Background and lineage
Buchecha trained under Rodrigo Cavaca at Checkmat, and his lineage runs through Élcio Figueiredo and Carlson Gracie. BJJ Heroes says he received his black belt on the podium after winning the 2010 World Championship. That same year he won the No-Gi Worlds at black belt, submitting future UFC contender Gilbert Burns with a rear naked choke. Cavaca gave him his first degree in late 2013, and he is now a fourth-degree black belt and an IBJJF Hall of Fame member.
Competition highlights
- IBJJF World Championship (gi): black belt gold in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, across ultra heavyweight and the absolute. BJJ Heroes counts six absolute titles.
- IBJJF World No-Gi: champion in 2010 and 2011.
- ADCC: gold in 2013, with a heel hook on João Gabriel Rocha in the final, and again in 2017. Bronze in the 2017 absolute and silver in the 2019 absolute, where he lost the final to Gordon Ryan.
- Other: IBJJF Pan double gold in 2012, the 2016 IBJJF Pro League Grand Prix, and four Abu Dhabi World Pro titles from 2012 to 2015.
Style and signature techniques
BJJ Heroes lists the double leg, toe hold and choke from the back as his favourite techniques. His most common finishes on BJJ Heroes are the armbar (15), the toe hold (7) and chokes from back control. In MMA he has kept submitting people, with a north-south choke, a rear naked choke and a heel hook among his ONE wins.
Notable matches
- Roger Gracie, Metamoris (2012) and Gracie Pro (2017): a draw, then a choke-from-the-back loss in Roger's final match.
- Felipe Pena, ADCC 2017 semi-final: a rear naked choke loss in the absolute.
- Kaynan Duarte and Gordon Ryan, ADCC 2019: he lost one semi-final to Duarte on a referee decision and won another against Mahamed Aly by rear naked choke on his way to the absolute final.
MMA career
Buchecha signed with ONE Championship in 2020 and won five of six heavyweight bouts. His wins included a heel hook on Kirill Grishenko and a submission of Amir Aliakbari that earned a $50,000 bonus. His only ONE loss was a decision to Oumar Kane. He joined the UFC in July 2025 and went 0–2–1 in his first three fights. A 2023 documentary, Buchecha: Far Beyond World Records, covers his career.