Bruno Pucci has never gone the distance. He’s fought six times and every single bout has ended in either a knockout or submission, more often than not inside the opening round. Things haven’t always gone the way of the Brazilian, who fights at ONE: Light of a Nation on Friday, but they’ve seldom been dull.
“That’s the fight game. What attracts people to watch MMA is that it’s unpredictable,” Pucci told MMAWeekly.com.
His last fight was a prime example. It ended suddenly and violently with Pucci on the wrong end of a knockout and the Brazilian says moments like this are just part and parcel of being a mixed martial artist.
“There were a thousand things that I could have done. I could have knocked him out in 10 seconds as well, you never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes it goes your way sometimes it doesn’t.”
Pucci is a multiple time no-gi grappling world champion who holds a black belt in BJJ. His four career wins all came by way of a rear-naked choke and it’s clear that the ground game is his greatest strength, but the Brazilian says he’s been working to become more well rounded.
“I always review my past fights and look at what I can do better. It doesn’t matter if you’re a champion or a contender, I think it’s important to always be improving. I have been consistently training my whole game with the world champions at Evolve MMA and improving every day.”
With ONE Championship and the UFC holding cards in Singapore in quick succession, it’s been a very busy period for the fighters at Evolve MMA. Pucci feels this has given the training sessions added intensity.
“I have been training with all the world champions at Evolve. We had a lot of fighters fight on the ONE card in Singapore, so it was great training with them during their camps. It’s always a good workout when training with my teammates, such as Brodinho Issa, Rafael Dos Anjos, Amir Khan, Angela Lee, Christian Lee, and the other members of the team under coach Brian Ebersole.”
Pucci is going up against Jimmy Yabo, whose signature win was a quickfire knockout of Bashir Ahmed last year. He needed less than 30 seconds to knock out the Pakistani MMA pioneer. But Pucci, who holds a submission win over the same opponent, says he doesn’t fear the Filipino’s power.
“Yes, I saw it (the knockout), but I’m sure he saw my submission of Bashir as well. At the end of the day, it’s all about who performs on the night.”
Since signing for ONE Championship, Pucci has fought in Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Malaysia. His fight on Friday takes place at the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon and he’s looking forward to visiting Myanmar for the first time.
“I’ve never been to Myanmar, but I have a lot of students from there and they are friendly. From what I’ve seen it looks like a beautiful country and it’s great to have my fight there,” he said.
Getting to travel and fight is the lifestyle which Pucci signed up for when he penned a contract with ONE Championship in 2013. At the time, Myanmar was firmly in the grip of a military junta, but the country has since held democratic elections and he is excited to be fighting there for the first time.
“It’s really exciting. I’m proud to be a part of what ONE is doing in terms of spreading martial arts throughout Asia and inspiring people.”
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