Introduction
Friday, December 3rd, Brazilian heavyweight prospect Marcus Buchecha will be in action for ONE Chamionship, where he will be looking continue his winning ways against Ji Won Kang. He will be looking for another win, as Vakhaev looks to stay undefeated in MMA. He represents American Top Team, a top camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Grappling: No surprise here. Buchecha is a world-class grappler with a high-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. He has won numerous world championships in grappling and has consistently finished in the top-three in his division at ADCC. So, obviously, that’s what you are going to get from him in the cage. He quickly establishes his distance and looks to get the fight to the ground ASAP. Once he does, he gets right to work. He has excellent transitions and set ups. He also has a wide variety of submissions. His lone MMA fight saw him get kickboxer Anderson Silva to the ground. From there, he scored a north-south choke victory, putting the heavyweights in ONE on notice.
Strength: Physically, Buchecha is very strong. His core, legs and upper body are all very powerful, which allows him to score takedowns and control his opponent’s body. That’s also seen in his submissions, as he can muscle submissions into place. His grip strength is excellent, as is his ability to choke his opponents quickly. He’s a decent sized heavyweight that relies on his physicality.
Needs Improvement
Striking: Obviously, coming from a BJJ background, Buchecha has basic striking that is used to set up takedowns so he can compete on the mat. He doesn’t have a lot of variety or volume. We have also only seen him on the feet for a limited amount of time. Until we see more footage, this is the biggest hole in his game.
Outlook
Feature Fighter/Title Challenger: Buchecha is going to have a solid MMA career just because of how world class his grappling is. ONE has a star on their hands and Buchecha will have a great career with the company, mostly as a feature fighter. He will be a marquee attraction to the BJJ fans of the world and will be placed in important positions on ONE’s cards. He may also challenge for a world title at some point in his career, as the talent at heavyweight is thin, especially in a company like ONE. I look forward to watching Buchecha fight and improve. He has a solid test on his hands in Ji Won Kang, who notably stopped Olympic wrestler Amir Aliakbari, so he’s no pushover.
MMA Intel 