MARCUS ALMEIDA (BUCHECHA)

Marcus Almeida, universally known as Buchecha, is the most decorated competitor in the history of the IBJJF World Championship. Born in São Paulo in 1989 and trained from a young age under Rodrigo Cavaca at the Checkmat academy, Buchecha won his first adult IBJJF World title at black belt in 2012 and proceeded to win the championship in his weight class and the absolute division thirteen times between 2012 and 2019, a record that has not been approached by any other competitor in the modern era.

Buchecha's competitive style was built on heavyweight pressure passing — particularly the over-under and stack passes — combined with a surprisingly mobile mount-and-back-take system that allowed him to finish opponents from positions a 230-pound competitor would not normally be expected to access. His matches against Roger Gracie, Rodolfo Vieira, and Leandro Lo across the 2010s produced some of the most-watched IBJJF black-belt matches in the federation's history.

In 2021 Buchecha transitioned to MMA, signing with ONE Championship. His MMA run has been competitive but less dominant than his BJJ career, with a record that includes wins over multiple ONE Heavyweight contenders but losses against the division's top competitors. Buchecha remains active in BJJ instruction and continues to compete in select grappling matches outside the IBJJF system. His IBJJF World title record (13) is considered effectively unmatchable in the modern competitive era given the depth of the absolute and super-heavyweight divisions today.