Fighter Spotlight: Jailton Almeida
Quickly rising through the heavyweight rankings, Jailton Almeida is ranked number 9 with five straight victories in the UFC, all coming via finish, with four out of five ending in the first round. Almeida is currently on a 14-fight win streak fighting as both a Light Heavyweight and a Heavyweight. Almeida has been fighting professionally since 2012, debuting as a Welterweight before progressing through the weight classes, holding victories across all 4-weight divisions he's competed in.
Fighting out of Brazil, it is no surprise to hear that Almeida takes inspiration from former UFC champion Anderson Silva. Fighting out of Galpão da Luta gym in Salvador, Brazil, Almeida has been quoted saying that he incorporates some of the techniques used by Dagestani wrestlers into his game.
He has amassed an impressive record of 19-2, with all 19 victories coming via finish within the first two rounds. Almeida is a well-rounded fighter comfortable both on the feet and on the ground. He began training boxing at age six and picked up Brazilian jiu-jitsu at age 11, in which he holds a black belt. He is more known for his submission abilities, with 12 of his wins coming via way of submission, but it is worth noting that his seven wins coming via knockout is not a statistic to sleep on.
Prior to the UFC, Almeida held championships in Fight On MMA as a Light Heavyweight and in Thunder Fight as a heavyweight. Almeida is among the many highly talented athletes to enter the UFC through Dana White's Contender Series. Almeida faced off with Nasrudin Nasrudinov in 2021 in a Light Heavyweight bout where he dominated the fight before finishing his opponent via a rear-naked choke early in the second round.
Almeida later debuted in the UFC as a Light Heavyweight against Danilo Marquez, securing a first-round KO finish in February 2022. Almeida would fight twice more in 2022, returning to the Heavyweight division against UFC veteran Parker Porter and a catchweight bout against Anton Turkalji. Almeida would show no signs of slowing down as he finished both men via rear-naked choke in the first round. If people had not heard about Almeida before, they certainly had after an impressive showing throughout 2022.
Almeida would return to Brazil in 2023, where he stood across from Nasrudin Nasrudinov. Almeida would continue his shine as he knocked out Nasrudinov in the second round in front of a home crowd. Now an undeniably highly touted prospect with many pundits expressing the possibility of Almeida being a future two-weight champion, Almeida would have his biggest challenge and most notable name in his next fight, Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
A performance of the night-worthy showing from Almeida was indeed on display as he submitted Rozenstruik in the first round and set up his next fight to be his first main event. That fight goes down this weekend when Almeida takes on the UFC knockout record holder Derrick Lewis. This is by far Almeida's most dangerous opponent, who has repeatedly shown that he can put his opponent's lights out in the blink of an eye. On the other hand, a win over the former title challenger can certainly set Almeida up to being one step closer to a UFC title fight.
