Marcus Buchecha

Marcus Vinícius Oliveira de Almeida, also known as Buchecha (born January 8, 1990) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and 4th-degree black belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) practitioner. A professional mixed martial artist since 2020, he currently competes in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He formerly competed in the heavyweight division of ONE Championship.

A multiple-time World jiu-jitsu and ADCC submission fighting champion, Buchecha is a member of the IBJJF Hall of Fame and widely considered as one of the greatest Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitors of all time.

Early life Almeida was born and grew up in Santos, São Paulo. His sister started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu when Marcus was 14 years old, forcing him to come along to the gym so their father Clayton could keep an eye on her. Subsequently, Marcus and Clayton started training jiu-jitsu also, leading both to become black belts and the latter winning IBJJF Masters World Championship. Almeida is a black belt under Rodrigo Cavaca, who gave Almeida his nickname Buchecha, which means cheek and is a reference to him having chubby cheeks when he was overweight. Almeida competes under the Checkmat team.

Mixed martial arts career ONE Championship Despite talking about transitioning to mixed martial arts since 2015, news surfaced four years later on July 30, 2020, that Almeida had signed a multi-year contract with ONE Championship. He has been training mixed martial arts at the American Kickboxing Academy and has competed in the heavyweight division. Almeida was scheduled to make his MMA debut against Oumar Kane at ONE Championship. Unfortunately, Almeida was removed from the card and replaced with Alain Ngalani on 13 January 2021, reportedly due to suffering an injury in training. After recovering from his injury, he was booked to make his MMA debut against Kang Ji-Won at ONE on TNT 1. Kang later withdrew from the bout for undisclosed reasons.

Almeida was scheduled to face Thomas Narmo at ONE Championship: Revolution on September 24, 2021. Narmo later withdrew for undisclosed reasons, and was replaced by Anderson “Braddock” Silva. He won the bout in the first round via north–south choke.

Almeida faced Kang Ji Won at ONE: Winter Warriors on December 3, 2021. He won the bout via rear-naked choke in the first round.

Almeida was scheduled to face Oumar "Reug Reug" Kane on April 22, 2022, at ONE 156. However, the week of the event, it was announced that the bout would be moved to May 20. Yet, Kane withdrew from the bout citing injury and was replaced by Hugo Cunha who in turn tested positive for COVID-19 and the bout was scrapped. Almeida was later rescheduled to face Simon Carson at ONE 158 on June 3, 2022. He won the fight by a first-round technical knockout, stopping Carson with ground and pound midway through the opening round.

Almeida faced Kirill Grishenko at ONE on Prime Video 1 on August 27, 2022. He won the bout early in the first round after submmiting Kirill with a heel hook. This win earned him the Performance of the Night award.

Almeida faced Oumar Kane on August 5, 2023, at ONE Fight Night 13. He lost the fight by unanimous decision.

A biopic entitled Buchecha: Far Beyond World Records was released in 2023.

Almeida faced Amir Aliakbari on November 9, 2024, at ONE 169. He won the fight by submission in the first round and earned a $50,000 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus. This was the final fight of Almeida's contract, and he became a free agent after it.

Ultimate Fighting Championship On July 7, 2025, it was reported that Almeida had signed with Ultimate Fighting Championship; he made his promotional debut against Martin Buday on July 26, 2025, at UFC on ABC 9. He lost the fight by unanimous decision.

Almeida faced Kennedy Nzechukwu on December 13, 2025, at UFC on ESPN 73. Despite Nzechukwu being deducted one point due to an eye poke, the bout ended via unanimous draw.

Almeida was scheduled to face Max Gimenis on April 25, 2026 at UFC Fight Night 274. However, Gimenis withdrew because of a broken foot and was replaced by former LFA Light Heavyweight Champion Ryan Spann. He lost the fight via knockout in round two.

Championships and accomplishments

Brazilian jiu-jitsu / Submission wrestling Main Achievements (Black Belt):

Brazilian jiu-jitsu / submission wrestling record

Mixed martial arts record Loss

Ryan Spann KO (punches) UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs. Zalal

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Draw

Kennedy Nzechukwu Draw (unanimous) UFC on ESPN: Royval vs. Kape

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Loss

Martin Buday Decision (unanimous) UFC on ABC: Whittaker vs. de Ridder

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Win

Amir Aliakbari Submission (rear-naked choke) ONE 169

Bangkok, Thailand Loss

Oumar Kane Decision (unanimous) ONE Fight Night 13

Bangkok, Thailand Win

Kirill Grishenko Submission (heel hook) ONE on Prime Video 1

Kallang, Singapore Win

Simon Carson TKO (punches) ONE 158

Kallang, Singapore Win

Kang Ji-won Submission (rear-naked choke) ONE: Winter Warriors

Kallang, Singapore Win

Anderson da Silva Submission (north-south choke) ONE: Revolution

Kallang, Singapore Instructor lineage Carlos Gracie Sr. > Carlson Gracie > Élcio Figueiredo > Rodrigo Cavaca > Marcus Almeida