Record holder of world titles in jiu-jitsu and victorious in his recent stint in MMA, Marcus Buchecha generated great expectations among fans when he was signed by the UFC. Scheduled to debut against Martin Buday in Abu Dhabi, the Brazilian, however, ended up failing in his strategy and was defeated by his rival in the unanimous decision of the judges.
In his first public statement about what he thought of the fight, Buchecha once again dismissed excuses for a performance that was below expectations and highlighted the merits of the choices made by his opponent in the octagon.
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"There's no excuse. I made a mistake, and one mistake led to another, which led to another, and (Buday) was actually better than me. All credit to him for the win. He used his experience and let me run my course. I made a lot of bad choices and paid the price. I also felt the pressure of fighting in the UFC for the first time. Like it or not, it's different. I felt like I wanted to get out of there quickly, to finish the fight quickly, and I paid the price," Buchecha told MMA Fighting.
Despite his strong grappling skills, Marcus felt he failed to take down Buday, decisions that ultimately harmed his performance during the fight.
“When I felt he was stronger and heavier than I imagined, I could have waited longer, trusted my hands more. I rushed things too much. And by the time I started trusting my hands and landing, I was already very tired—and I'd already tried six or seven failed takedowns. It was one bad decision after another. I have no one to blame but myself.”
Martin Buday derrotou Marcus Buchecha No. UFC Abu Dhabi (Photo: Twitter/UFC News)
Finally, the veteran guaranteed that his essence and posture will be maintained despite being in a new event, with a different atmosphere.
"I am who I am. I'm 35 years old, and I'm not going to change now that I'm an adult. You won't see me wearing fur coats, smoking cigars, and trash-talking everyone at press conferences. That's never going to happen, you know? I come from jiu-jitsu. Many legends came from jiu-jitsu and showed their work in there without any of that. Maybe they didn't get as far in terms of marketing and reputation, but I want to go out there and do my job. If I have to promote the fight, we'll do that, but I don't need to go overboard. I am who I am, and I'm not going to change because of it," he concluded.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Buchecha is being speculated by many fans as a potential name to join the event scheduled for the Marvelous City on October 11th. Despite requests, the athlete has not yet commented on his return to the octagon.
Read More about: marcus buchecha, Martin Buday, MMA, UFC, UFC Abu Dhabi, Ultimate
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