“I never think that far” – ‘Buchecha’ on the possibility of him reaching coral belt status in BJJ

ONE heavyweight MMA superstar and 17-time jiu-jitsu world champion Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida recently joined MMA legend 'Rampage' Jackson in the former UFC star's show, Jaxxon Podcast, on YouTube.

The BJJ icon brushed on a few things such as his illustrious career as a submission grappler and the future of his MMA stint in ONE Championship.

One of the most interesting bits of the conversation was the possibility of 'Buchecha' eventually receiving his coral belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Being the most decorated world champion in BJJ history with 17 under his belt and 20 years of experience, Almeida's knowledge and skill have earned him a second-degree black belt.

To the uninitiated, a "coral belt" corresponds to seventh-degree black belts in BJJ. It's awarded to masters who have been active as a black belt for over 30 years and have been influential in the martial art as a whole. As of this writing, there have only been about 30 coral belts in BJJ so far.

On receiving the prestigious belt, 'Buchecha' said:

“I don't even know how to get it. I think you need to have like 30 years of black belt or something like that. So I think maybe when I reach 50 something or 51. I don't know how that works, I never think that far, you know. I don't even know what I’m going to have.”

Watch the full podcast here:

---

'Buchecha' sees loss to 'Reug Reug' as vital experience for his MMA so far

While his coral belt is still decades away from happening, one thing Almeida is focused on is progressing his budding MMA career at the moment. Speaking to 'Rampage', the Brazilian grappling icon explained what it was like to lose for the first time in MMA last year.

At ONE Fight Night 13 last year, 'Buchecha' lost a back-and-forth brawl with Senegalese wrestling icon Oumar 'Reug Reug' Kane.

Before losing to 'Reug Reug', Almeida had a perfect 4-0 record with four first-round finishes. Going toe-to-toe with the Senegalese powerhouse icon gave 'Buchecha' his first true challenge in MMA.

Despite coming up short against 'Reug Reug', Almeida sees the loss as a valuable moment in his MMA career:

"In the first round I did like a bad shot and I got like a really bad ground and pound. I was just feeling weird but I couldn't think straight but I did the three rounds. I remember everything, it was like a tough fight but despite that I still took him down. There wasn't my plan to lose but it was a good experience for my career so I want to go there again and test it out again."