Marcus "Buchecha" Almeida "Buchecha"

Marcus Vinicius Oliveira de Almeida was born January 8, 1990, in Santos, Sao Paulo, and came to Jiu-Jitsu somewhat by accident. His older sister began training first, and his father, initially just accompanying her to class out of protectiveness, ended up training himself and eventually brought young Marcus along. The nickname "Buchecha" (roughly, "chubby cheeks") stuck from childhood and followed him into a career that would make him arguably the most dominant heavyweight competitor the sport has produced. He trained under Rodrigo Cavaca and rose through the ranks at Checkmat, receiving his black belt on the podium after winning the World Championship in 2010, an almost unheard-of way to be promoted.

What followed was a run of sustained dominance across the 2010s that reset expectations for what a heavyweight competitor could accomplish. Buchecha won IBJJF World Championship gold repeatedly at black belt, collecting titles across 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, in both his weight class and the open-weight absolute division, at points completing double-gold sweeps in the same year more than once. His total of IBJJF Worlds titles stands as the record for the tournament's history. In no-gi, he added ADCC World Championship gold at +99kg in 2013 and again in 2017, plus a runner-up finish in 2019, along with multiple IBJJF No-Gi World titles and Abu Dhabi World Pro championships, making him one of the very few competitors to have been dominant in both gi and no-gi formats simultaneously.

What separated Buchecha from other elite heavyweights was pace. Most super-heavyweights of his era relied on strength and positional grinding; Buchecha instead competed with the cardio and output of a much lighter athlete, constantly attacking leg positions, backs, and guard passes rather than settling for slow, point-based wins. His overall competitive résumé closed out in the neighborhood of 128 wins against 13 losses and a draw, with well over half of his career wins coming by submission, an extraordinary finishing rate for a heavyweight.

In the mid-2010s Buchecha began cross-training in MMA, competing regionally before signing with ONE Championship in 2021 and later the UFC. His transition to a full-time striking-and-wrestling sport has been a genuine adjustment after two decades of specializing purely in grappling, and his MMA record has been a mixed bag of wins, losses, and at least one draw as he has worked to round out his stand-up game. Regardless of how his second career in MMA unfolds, his legacy in Jiu-Jitsu is already secure: he is a Hall of Fame-caliber competitor whose combination of title count, finishing rate, and gi/no-gi versatility places him among the handful of names, alongside Roger Gracie and Rafael Mendes, most commonly cited when the debate turns to the greatest competitor the sport has produced.

Explosive, high-volume attacking heavyweight game combining leg locks, guard passing, and relentless pace