Marcus Almeida is eager to prove himself as champion

Three fights into his professional mixed martial arts career, Almeida (3-0) already boasts multiple world titles in jiu-jitsu and an ADCC gold medal. The most recent of these three was in June, when they utterly destroyed Simon Carson.

“Everything I do in my life, I want to put my 100 percent, so MMA is not different, so I’m training for that,” Almeida said.

“Of course, I want to get to the top, I want to be the champion one day, but to be honest, I don’t want to wait that long. Years sounds like a lot of time, so I’m putting a lot of work to reach there before those years that you’re saying.”

“I see my game is getting a lot better,” Almeida said. “I’m feeling way more confident in the cage, so when the door closes, I’m not the kind of guy that wants to leave as soon as possible. So if I have to be there for three rounds, I’m ready to do it, but if I’m saying I want to fight three rounds, I’m lying. I want to finish as soon as possible if I have the opportunity, so if I get the job done in the first round, that is like mission accomplished for me.”

The first round has been the place where Almeida’s three finishes have taken place, While he understands the benefit of going the full distance for experience’s sake, he has no interest in continuing past the first round when facing Grishenko.