Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida shares initial thoughts on potential Arjan Bhullar vs. Anatoly Malykhin clash

Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida has weighed in on the potential heavyweight clash between world titleholders Arjan Bhullar and Anatoly Malykhin.

The long-anticipated event between the two heavyweight powerhouses is seemingly finally in the works. 'Buchecha', for one, is super excited about their matchup.

He revealed his prediction during an interview with SCMP MMA, saying:

“Man, both of the guys are great, great fighters -- two of the best heavyweights of the world. And to be honest, anyone can win, but I think who has the best, the bigger advantage right now, is Anatoly [Malykhin] because he's more active. But like I said, if somebody has like a little bit of advantage, I would say that because he’s active.”

Almeida added:

“The last fight Arjan fought was against Brandon Vera. That was a while ago. So maybe it can like count a little bit. But he got a lot of experience. I don't know if it will be a problem for him. But in my point of view, I think that's a good advantage for Anatoly. Both of them have great hands, fast hands, and great wrestling backgrounds. So should be a good one to watch for sure.”

Watch the full interview below:

Indian-Canadian world champion Arjan Bhullar and Russian interim titleholder Anatoly Malykhin are in their respective training camps refining their striking and wrestling skills.

Bhullar is expected to defend his world title for the first time since beating Filipino-American icon Brandon Vera at ONE: Dangal. The former Olympian wrestler has remained unbeaten in the circle.

Although Malykhin doesn’t bring the same level of experience to the table, he in turn brings a fighting style Bhullar hasn’t faced before. As 'Buchecha' said, it’s going to be a good one, for sure.

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Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida says he’s back to business on August 26 at ONE 161

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida is happy to get back to business as he settles himself on the stacked ONE 161 card, which features Adriano Moraes vs. Demetrious Johnson 2 as the main event.

After suffering a bunch of setbacks within the last year, Almeida is looking to secure his fourth straight win in the circle. To do so, he'll have to go through Belarusian star Kirill Grishenko at US primetime.

The 17-time BJJ world champion expressed his excitement on Instagram with the caption:

"Here we go again! Back to Business on August 26th, one more big challenge in my career, in 7 weeks I will be fighting on this huge card on @onechampionship , the first one of the partnership with @primevideo ! I can’t wait for this one, let’s do it!"