Brazilian Bruno Pucci is set to make his One FC debut on Friday, and he wants to shine brightest among the entire main card against Bashir Ahmad, who is also undefeated in MMA with two wins.
Still unknown in the MMA world, Pucci had to overcome a lot of health conditions to fight.
“For sure,” Pucci told MMAFighting.com when asked if MMA saved his life. “I started training martial arts for medical reasons. I needed exercises because I had growth problems. I was always short and weak. Because of that, I had problems and eventually got overweight, and I needed hormonal replacement because I wasn’t growing properly. When I knew that I had to do sports for the rest of my life, I chose something that would keep me motivated all the time. I always enjoyed fights, so I ended up getting evolved with martial arts.”
Watching fight movies was part of Pucci’s routine, and he accidentally met jiu-jitsu.
“One day I was walking with my father, to get some things the doctor recommended, and we saw a jiu-jitsu gym so we decided to get in to check it out,” he said. “I always enjoyed martial arts, I believe it’s in my personality. Even before I didn’t know much about MMA, I always liked movies and games with fighting so it wasn’t hard to get into this world.
“Jiu-Jitsu and MMA helped me not only on my body development, but gave me confidence, calm and respect. Besides that, I ended up visiting a lot of countries and meeting different people, a great cultural experience that made more mature.”
Pucci became a jiu-jitsu black belt under Sebastian Lalli at Checkmat in Brazil, and later moved to Singapore to train at Evolve MMA. Undefeated in MMA with two submission victories, the featherweight looks up to UFC 170-pound champion Georges St-Pierre as an inspiration.
“I really like GSP,” he said. “He’s the most complete athlete and it’s the result of a lot of training. I follow this recipe, trying to become a complete athlete too. But my great inspiration is my father. I know how much he worked hard and did the impossible to make me follow my dreams.”
Ahmad made his successful One FC debut with a win over previously undefeated Shannon Wiratchai, but Pucci promises to win in beautiful fashion.
“I’m really looking forward my next fight at One FC,” he said. “I’m training hard every day, so I don’t expect anything less than the victory. He’s a striker and I’m a grappler, but he also has a good ground game and I’m good standing as well. I believe it’s going to be a great fight for the fans, I will burn that cage. I wouldn’t miss that fight if I were you.”