‘Buchecha' happy to let Reinier de Ridder challenge for heavyweight gold first

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida has continuously played down talks of him challenging for the ONE heavyweight gold.

Just yesterday, the multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion stated that he wants to take time to work on his all-around arsenal before being linked to a world title shot.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA today, the Brazilian revealed that he wouldn’t even mind if ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world champion Reinier ‘The Dutch Knight’ de Ridder got a crack at the heavyweight crown before he did.

He shared:

“Reinier de Ridder is a great fighter, a two-division ONE world champion. He's been talking a lot about fighting among the heavyweights. But I think it's hard to give him a title shot right away. But it can happen. If they give him the title shot, I don't see any problem.”

If anything, the 32-year-old would like to see how the Breda native's Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills would fare against interim champ Anatoly ‘Sladkiy’ Malykhin or Arjan ‘Singh’ Bhullar.

It would certainly act as a good litmus test for the world-class ground skills he would bring to the Circle should he face them.

---

‘Buchecha’ believes de Ridder deserves a heavyweight title shot

‘Buchecha’ added that he wouldn't view it as a missed opportunity, saying that ‘The Dutch Knight’ truly deserves his chance to become the promotion’s first-ever three-division MMA world champion.

He further told Sportskeeda:

“I don't think he would be passing in front of me because I'm not thinking about the belt yet. I'm just thinking about my next fight. I'm not in a hurry... And he's a guy who earned it, he won two titles. But there's still a lot of fights that can happen for him. However, I don't see him fighting now for the heavyweight title either because I think the fight between Anatoly Malykhin and Arjan Bhullar will take a long time to happen.”

‘Buchecha’ has certainly been impressed by de Ridder’s grappling skills. He'll have another chance to catch the Dutchman in action at ONE X on Saturday, March 26.

Reinier de Ridder is set to resume his quest on the global stage versus Andre Galvao in a submission grappling contest at ONE’s 10-year anniversary spectacle.