Preview: UFC Abu Dhabi Prelims

Heavyweights

Martin Buday (15-2, 6-1 UFC) vs. Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida (5-1, 0-0 UFC)

Odds: Almeida (-210); Buday (+175)

Buday will look to keep his surprisingly successful Octagon run going here by spoiling the promotional debut of a grappling superstar. “Badys” is absolutely massive even by the standards of the division, as a formerly almost 400-pound man who has slimmed down only enough to get within reasonable sauna distance of the heavyweight limit. Despite that, Buday is nimbler in the cage than his plodding gait and huge frame would seem to indicate; almost a latter-day Ben Rothwell in that regard. He also seems to have perfectly acceptable cardio for three-round fights. In spite of his height and reach, he is most effective in close quarters, especially against the cage where he punishes and exhausts his opponent with leverage and short knees and punches. He is also adept at securing takedowns from the clinch, and when he does, he is brutally effective at advancing position and locking up big-man topside submissions.

Three years ago, Almeida appeared to be on an eventual collision course with Reinier de Ridder in One Championship. De Ridder picked up the 205 and 225-pound titles as a dazzling submission artist, while BJJ superstar “Buchecha” had joined the heavyweight roster and was learning the trade under the bright lights in Singapore.

Now, de Ridder is headlining a UFC Fight Night, with a possible 185-pound title shot in store if he should win, and Almeida is hoping to be the next ONE transplant to take the Octagon by storm. Put simply, “Buchecha” is on the short list of the greatest heavyweight grapplers of all time—maybe the best to cross over to MMA in his physical prime. Better yet, as a big, shockingly athletic man, he is exactly the kind of BJJ artist who seemed made for fighting all along.

Almeida is a dazzling get for the UFC and is understandably the favorite here, but he is far from a perfect fighter. In his lone career loss to date, he faced Oumar Kane, a similarly raw but gifted MMA newcomer. “Reug Reug” blasted Almeida with a punch early, successfully defended his leglock attempts as he recovered his wits, and was the fresher fighter late. By Round 3, “Buchecha” was reduced to pulling guard off of failed takedown attempts, and was sufficiently fatigued that Kane parked in his guard for much of the round without fear.

While the fight went down as a win for Kane under ONE’s scoring and would likely have been a draw by the Unified Rules, it highlighted a route to neutralizing Almeida that Buday could follow. He is a hard-hitting heavyweight with a talent for tiring his opponents out by making them carry his mass. He could do that here, but he lacks the athleticism, raw power and balance of “Reug Reug,” so he would have to walk quite a tightrope.

The guess is that Almeida is able to get inside on Buday and get him to the ground early, perhaps with a takedown; at worst with a sacrifice throw or guard pull, and go to work from there while both men are dry and relatively fresh. “Buchecha” by first-round sub.



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Buday vs. Almeida