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Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida plans to put Anatoly Malykhin’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the test before 2023 comes to a close.
The 17-time BJJ world champion is gunning for a world title opportunity in the new year and is setting his sights on the newly crowned two-division world champion.
Malykhin made waves when he smashed previously undefeated multi-weight world titleholder Reinier de Ridder at ONE on Prime Video 5 in December. Now holding both the ONE interim heavyweight and light heavyweight world titles, the Russian juggernaut has a massive target on his back and ‘Buchecha’ is aiming for dead center.
In an interview with MMA Hoje, Marcus Almeida commended Malykhin for his impressive run inside the circle. However, he suggested that the clock is running out on the Russian's time as the interim heavyweight world champion:
“He’s good in wrestling and very good boxing. Heavy hands, but we didn’t see his jiu-jitsu yet. No one really put his jiu-jitsu to the test yet. But it is what it is. You could be the best in the world. His clock is ticking, I’ll always trust my jiu-jitsu 100 percent.”
Like Malykhin, ‘Buchecha’ is undefeated in his professional MMA career with four incredible first-round finishes. Almeida will look to keep that trend going in the new year as he works his way towards a shot at ONE gold.
Catch the interview below:
‘Buchecha’ doesn’t see Arjan Bhullar as the ONE heavyweight champion
With all the talk of challenging Anatoly Malykhin for the heavyweight title, one has to wonder, what about Arjan Bhullar, the current ONE heavyweight world titleholder?
Despite capturing the world title with a second-round knockout of Brandon Vera in May 2021, Bhullar has been inactive since then for multiple reasons.
With the promotion nearing two years without Bhullar stepping foot inside the circle, many fighters, including Marcus Almeida, are choosing to recognize Malykhin as the defacto heavyweight king.
Why Arjan Bhullar appears to be dragging his feet is anyone’s guess, but ‘Buchecha’ believes ‘Singh’ should have already been stripped of his crown as a result:
"Who am I to say if someone is scared or not, right? Arjan Bhullar won the division’s belt and he deserved it. But this delay in returning to the cage, regardless of the reason… I think he should have already lost the title due to inactivity. I don't know what the reasons are for his delay in defending the title, but he messed up the division a lot."
