Jailton Almeida went 8-3 during his UFC tenure. | Getty/UFC
Even the promise of a change in weight classes wasn’t enough to save Jailton Almeida.According to an initial report of Laerte Viana, the UFC has released the 34-year-old Brazilian after back-to-back losses to Alexander Volkov and Rizvan Kuniev. In the meantime, MMAjunkie.com has confirmed that the promotion has already informed Almeida of its decision.
The news comes a few days after the announcement that Almeida planned to return to the light heavyweight division, where he started his UFC career.
“Malhadinho” earned a UFC contract by winning a light heavyweight bout on Dana White’s Contender Series in September 2021. He was successful in his Octagon debut at 205 pounds, finishing Danilo Marques in the opener of UFC Fight Night 200 in February 2022. After a catchweight win at 220 pounds, the Brazilian moved to the heavyweight division, where he has since compiled a 5-3 record. 2023.
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While Almeida has notable victories against the likes of Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Derrick Lewis and Serghei Spivac, his last two performances have been largely mediocre. In his most recent loss to Kuniev at UFC Fight Night 266, Almeida failed on all eight takedown attempts and seemed reluctant to engage in striking exchanges for an extended period of time.In the earlier fight against Volkov at UFC 321, Almeida landed seven takedowns and racked up more than 10 minutes of control time, but only scored nine significant hits in a split-decision defeat. After the fight, UFC CEO Dana White stated that he was happy that Almeida was not awarded the decision.
“You can’t win a fight just by laying on someone,” White said at the UFC 321 post-fight press conference. “That’s not how it works. I was actually really happy with the way the judges scored that fight.”
Almeida accepted the Kuniev fight on short notice and revealed it was likely part of a new contract with the UFC.
“Basically, I always stay active,” Almeida told Ag.Fight ahead of UFC Vegas 113. “Even if I don’t have a fight, I help my teammates. When the UFC offered the fight three weeks ago, with the option to extend the contract, I spoke with my manager and we decided to accept this first fight of the new contract.”
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