Watch: Marcus Almeida sinks North-South choke in ONE Championship debut

[Photo Credits: ONE Championship and @ONEChampionship on Instagram] ‘Buchecha’ Marcus Almeida, Anderson Braddock Silva
[Photo Credits: ONE Championship and @ONEChampionship on Instagram] ‘Buchecha’ Marcus Almeida, Anderson Braddock Silva

Marcus Almeida has been undefeated since making his mixed martial arts debut in ONE Championship. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend was thrown into the deep-end when he made his debut against veteran fighter Anderson Braddock Silva.

ONE Championship shared three clips on Instagram of Almeida's first three MMA fights in which he earned quick finishes against his heavyweight opponents.

"Buchecha CAN'T BE STOPPED 🤯 Who's NEXT for the BJJ legend in MMA?"

Marcus Almeida is considered an all-time great in submission grappling competitions. He has earned dozens of world championship titles throughout his storied career. The Brazilian heavyweight made his debut against Braddock Silva, in 2021, who is a dangerous striker with over 70 bouts between MMA and kickboxing. More than half of Braddock Silva's career victories have come by way of KO/TKO.

‘Buchecha’ made it look easy by submitting the dangerous veteran opponent using a North-South choke in only 2:55 of round one. The other clips in ONE's Instagram post also show his opponents sufferring similar fates with none of them being able to survive the first round against the BJJ legend.


Marcus Almeida's ONE Championship bouts

Even with such an impressive background in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, transitioning to MMA is no simple task. But despite the major challenge, ‘Buchecha’ has done a flawless job thus far in ONE Championship.

After submitting Silva in his first fight, he went on to face undefeated knockout artist Kang Ji Won. Almeida gave Kang his lone career loss by submitting the South Korean fighter using a rear-naked choke at 2:27 in round one.

His most recent bout was against Australian fighter Simon Carson. Marcus Almeida got the win even faster this time and earned the victory at only 2:24 of round one using ground and pound. From the looks of it, not only can his opponents survive the first round against ‘Buchecha’ but they can't seem to survive even for three minutes.

The undefeated Dutch double world champion Reinier de Ridder got a chance to train alongside the Brazilian jiu-jitsu great. In an interview with ONE, de Ridder explained that Almeida has developed his entire MMA game and is much more than just a submission fighter. The champion explained:

“[His skill set] definitely is [as good as they say]. His takedowns are very, very good. His striking is coming along as well. And as his ground game is next level. So yeah, I think he might be getting up there [against the top guys] sooner.”

Reinier de Ridder has his next fight at ONE 159 on July 22, in which he will be looking to add another title defense to his record when he faces former champion Vitaly Bigdash.

Marcus Almeida would like to get back in the ONE circle as quickly as possible. No fight is officially scheduled for the Brazilian heavyweight, however, fans can likely expect him back in ONE Championship later this year.

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Edited by Allan Mathew