Marcus Buchecha breaks silence on debut loss, UFC’s decision to not re-sign Martin Buday

Marcus Buchecha did not perform the way he was hoping for on July 26, losing a decision to Martin Buday in his octagon debut at UFC Abu Dhabi. Not only is he disappointed with his showing, he’s sad that the promotion opted to not re-sign the man that defeated him.

Speaking with MMA Fighting in his first interview since the fight, Buchecha took full responsibility for the loss, admitting that a combination of “a lot of bad choices” led to the defeat.

“There’s no excuse,” Buchecha said. “I made a mistake, and one mistake led to another, which led to another, and [Buday] really was better than me. Full credit to him for the victory. He used his experience and let me gas myself out. I made a lot of bad choices and paid the price. I also felt the pressure, fighting for the first time in the UFC. Like it or not, it’s different. I felt like I wanted to get out of there quickly, to end the fight fast, and paid the price.”

Buchecha was 12 pounds lighter than Buday on weigh-in day, with his opponent hitting the heavyweight limit at 266 pounds. When it was time to enter the cage, he regrets not being more patient.

“When I felt he was stronger and heavier than I imagined, I could have waited more, believed more in my hands,” Buchecha said. “I rushed things too much. And when I started trusting my hands and started landing, I was already very tired — and had already tried six, seven bad takedown attempts. It was one bad decision after the other. I have no one to blame but myself.”

Although it was a unanimous decision, Buday vs. Buchecha was a close, uneventful match where neither fighter was able to dominate the opponent. The Brazilian heavyweight, one of the most decorated grapplers in jiu-jitsu history, is now 0-2 in MMA in fights that went past the first round — he finished the other five, all under the ONE Championship banner.

Against “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane, the first man to beat him in Asia, “I got hit a lot in the first round and suffered a concussion,” Buchecha said. “I was surviving in rounds two and three, on autopilot. I remember everything, even, but it was pure instinct. Not this time. Even though I was tired, I could still talk to my corners in between rounds, I could listen to them. It wasn’t the way I wanted, but it’s an experience. And that will for sure lead to lessons for the next one.”

Buchecha hopes his next one is around late November or early December, and rules out being part of UFC’s upcoming Fight Night event in Rio de Janeiro on Oct. 11 since it would mean a shorter training camp.

Buday, however, won’t have another chance inside the octagon next. The Buchecha win was the final bout of his contract, and the promotion opted not to re-sign him despite the fact he was ranked in the top-15 of the heavyweight division.

“Honestly, I was sad,” Buchecha said. “I was sad for him because he’s a nice guy. I knew him from years ago, we ended up training together in Abu Dhabi — he was a blue belt, I already was a black belt, a world champion, and we trained together. … We respected each other a lot during fight week. And he’s 7-1 in the UFC. [UFC champion Tom] Aspinall is 8-1, you know? There was no reason to cut him, right? I was sad because he was well-ranked and everybody thought he would climb the ranking even more, and ended up [released].”

The jiu-jitsu ace realizes things are different in mixed martial arts. Entertainment and business go hand in hand with the actual outcome of a fight, winning and losing, but the soft-spoken Buchecha said he won’t act differently before and after UFC bouts.

“I am who I am,” Buchecha said. “I’m 35 years old, and I won’t change now that I’m a grown up. You won’t see me wearing fur coats, smoking cigars and talking crap at everybody in press conferences. That will never happen, you know?

“I come from jiu-jitsu,” he continued. “Many legends came from jiu-jitsu and showed their work in there without any of that. Maybe they haven’t gotten as far in terms of marketing and name, but I want to go there and do my job. If I have to promote the fight, we’ll do it, but I don’t need to cross this line. I am who I am and I won’t change because of this.”