“I know he's a tough guy” - ‘Buchecha’ says Kirill Grishenko is a "warrior," won't take him lightly

Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida is rolling in his young mixed martial arts career, but he isn’t one to gloat and brush off his opponents.

The submission grappling legend will face his toughest challenge yet when he takes on Kirill Grishenko at ONE on Prime Video 1: Moraes vs. Johnson II. The event is set for this Friday, August 26 and will air at US primetime from the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Grishenko is a bruiser of a heavyweight and is as versatile as anyone in ONE Championship. The Belarusian star used that expansive skillset to batter Canada’s Dustin Joynson in his second victory in the organization at ONE: NextGen.

Although Joynson is a quintessential example of what a mixed martial arts fighter should be, he couldn’t overcome the sheer power that Grishenko brought in their fight in October 2021.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Almeida said he’s in awe of Grishenko’s versatility. it’s this very trait that puts the 17-time BJJ world champion in a wary mindset.

‘Buchecha’ said:

“I watched his fights. He fought Dustin Joynson, a very tough and versatile Canadian, with a very good striking game. It was a war, a very good fight to watch, and Kirill Grishenko came out with the victory. Kirill is used to fighting wars, fighting three rounds. You can see he's a warrior."

The Brazilian continued:

"He also faced ‘Reug Reug’ Oumar Kane, and he fought very well. 'Reug Reug' failed to take him down, only once I think. 'Reug Reug' is a grappler, so it was his first time facing a grappler. And his last fight was against Anatoly Malykhin. He ended up getting knocked out, but he was fighting well. I've studied Kirill's game, and I know he's a tough guy.”

Grishenko is adept at both striking and grappling, and has no problem imposing his will against his opponents in whatever area he chooses.

Although he lost to Malykhin for the ONE interim heavyweight world title, the 31-year-old from Minsk put up a hell of a performance against the Russian at ONE: Bad Blood this past February.

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‘Buchecha’ feels fighting Grishenko is the right step in his career

After running through his first three opponents, ‘Buchecha’ feels that his upcoming bout against Grishenko is the perfect next step.

Almeida, considered one of the greatest submission grapplers of all time, transitioned to MMA in 2021 and quickly racked up three straight wins.

Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva, Kang Ji Won, and Simon Carson are all formidable in their own right, but all three didn’t see past the first round against Almeida.

Grishenko, meanwhile, has already proven his chops and even contested for ONE Championship gold. Discussing the Belarusian, 'Buchecha' told the Asian organization:

“Yeah, it’s a huge step up. But I don’t like to think like that. When I made my debut in ONE, Kirill was doing his debut at the same time, so we had the same amount of time in the house, right?”