Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida is a Multi-Time BJJ World Champion, known best for his domination of open weight divisions, his battle with Roger Gracie, and his amazing leg lock and sweep game. Grab some of Buchecha’s best techniques for Free here – and learn more about his DVD.
My “combing” of the BJJ world has been tending more and more towards some of the athletes who I feel have really “Rocked the Boat” in competitive Jiu Jitsu in the past year or so. Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida came up QUICK with his amazing win against Rodolfo Viera, and his World Championship and Absolute Division victories.
So when “Buchecha” came out with a DVD set – it was mine preeeetty much as soon as I could get my hands on it – and I wanted to show some sample clips of some of the techniques that Buchecha has online – and also talk particularly about what I think are some of the major virtues of his game. I don’t really have the authority to go taking his DVDs and putting them online, but I wanted to share whatever was already online (I’m not a “pirate” of this stuff) and give some cool perspective and stuff you guys can use. Check out these killer clips!
Sample Videos and Techniques with “Buchecha”
This was the initial “Sampler” video that was put up online, and it actually contained a lot of pretty cool stuff:
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At about 1:03 you see one of his killer Toe Hold finishes in competition. The toe hold is without question the most powerful leg lock with the gi on – and Buchecha is an EXPERT at applying this lock from unexpected places, you see a lot of kneebars here and in the DVD set as well (like the one he hit on Kron Gracie). Notice how tight he keeps the foot to the check for all these toe hold finishes.
At around 1:23 there’s a pretty insane back-mount transition. This – I think – is what got me to get the course itself I tried this in the gym right away. Still working at it, but cool X-guard variations galore, and a lot of stuff starting directly from the half guard.
Here’s a cool footlock from Jiu Jitsu Mania:
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This was already up online and I didn’t take it off of the DVD or anything, but it’s just representative of a lot of Buchecha’s other positions from guard to leg lock. SO… many… transitions. Opponent’s catching their base is such a simple setup, and the benefit if hitting the leg locks from bottom is that they create scrambles for sweeps and you don’t loose points if the opponent ends up on top. Notice the “belly down” stretch that Buchecha does as he grips his own lapel for this finish.
You can see more of his exclusive videos online at the BJJWorldChampion site here – including some addition details on sweeps / leg locks from the set itself. Pretty sweet.
Competition Clip
This was taken from Marcus’s match to win the Pan Ams in 2013 versus Andre Galvao:
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Super aggressive, super technical, and many times unbearably tight. It’s definitely no easy feat to beat Galvao (I was rooting for them both!… which is hard to do) – but his technique and persistence prevailed.
If you guys end up getting in on the set (which I recommend), REALLY watch is peice by peice and pay attention to the aspects of the course you want to apply and drill in your game. Pick a few transitions and submissions that “integrate” into your game and then pick more as time goes along. If you’re like me – you’ll go RIGHT for the leg locks! or if you’re like my blue belt Joshua, you’ll go right for the mount and back mount attacks.
Either way have fun with it, and keep training / learning.
All the best,
-Daniel Faggella
