MMA analyst Luke Thomas addressed the discourse around jiu-jitsu’s place in modern MMA following a UFC event headlined by Aljamain Sterling versus Youssef Zalal, a card that featured three former grappling world champions. Among them were Rodolfo Vieira and Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida whose UFC performances have drawn scrutiny.
Thomas was clear in separating their situations.
“Rodolfo Vieira has performed much better than Buchecha. He’s also been there a lot longer. He’s been there since 2019. He has a winning record overall, 6-4.”
“He’s never put together a three-bout win streak, but he did put together back-to-back wins over Armen Petrosyan and Cody Brundage. He submitted both of them.”
On Buchecha specifically, Thomas noted that the UFC has not been unfair in opponent selection.
“They have given him figh ters he should be able to beat and he hasn’t been able to do it. In fact, he hasn’t even really gotten close. He’s gotten takedowns. He can’t hold them down.”
Thomas pointed to the era in which both athletes developed as the central problem, not simply the gi versus no-gi debate.
“The kind of jiu-jitsu that they were learning with the priorities that they had at that time, they’re not today’s priorities. The things that they mastered are just not nearly as relevant. And so they’re having to learn and master additional grappling skills now in their mid to late 30s that they did not get to before.”
He acknowledged both men are ADCC gold medalists, dismissing the idea that they simply cannot function without the gi.
The analyst identified pinning as the most critical missing element.
“Look at how poorly Buchecha is able to impose his game. He can get some takedowns. He has very poor pinning. He’s just not very good at it.”
He used a specific sequence as an example, where Buchecha attempted a backtake against Ryan Spann.
“He tries to put a hook in and then the far side hook in. Ryan Spann was kind of bent over at first, but he comes straight up. He had captured the near side hook and raised it higher than Buchecha’s head, which makes sitting up into that impossible. And then he just stands up and goes away.”
Thomas contrasted this with the Sambo-based approach seen from athletes like Khabib and Islam Makhachev.
“From the takedowns, they have trips, they have throws, they have leg attacks, they have hip attacks, they can do body lock attacks. Once it gets to the ground, they’re very good about pinning you there.”
Thomas concluded by saying that BJJ is not washed, it is the individual skill of the athlete which should be looked at.
“It is not fair to say that jiu-jitsu is washed. What it is fair to say is you have to look at the individual athletic and style of the jiu-jitsu athlete in question.”
He pointed to modern practitioners like Michael Pixley as examples of where the art is heading.
“BJJ is not fake. It is not washed, but it definitely needs a little revitalization. That’s happening. We just need more of it to happen and bleed over into MMA.”
