Jailton Almeida wants a fight in the UFC, and he’s willing to go back to light heavyweight for it.
“Malhadinho” improved to 8-1 in the octagon with a first-round beatdown over Serghei Spivac in January, his second quick finish in a row in the company, and hoped that it would lead to No. 1 contender bouts with Ciryl Gane or Alexander Volkov.
When neither materialized, Almeida turned his focus to interim champion Tom Aspinall, whose patience is running thin as fellow titleholder Jon Jones keeps his future uncertain.
“It’s hard, man. It feels like the time I was fighting in Brazil,” Almeida said with a laugh during an interview with MMA Fighting. “Of the names ranked ahead of me, I think the only one that mentions my name is Tom Aspinall. The others don’t say my name. Gane, Volkov. I don’t know what’s going on in their heads.”
Almeida still trains twice a day in Brazil, on stand-by in case anything interesting is presented on short notice. With Volkov openly saying he doesn’t want to face the Brazilian and Gane stepping away for movie duties, Almeida defended he should be first in line for Aspinall.
“I don’t think it’s fair to have Ciryl Gane fight Tom Aspinall,” Almeida said. “I’m the only one coming off an excellent victory. Sergei Pavlovich already fought Tom Aspinall. Volkov also fought Tom Aspinall. Curtis Blaydes has a fight booked and can’t fight him. Of those at the top, it’s me [who makes sense]. And Ciryl Gane basically won with a bad decision. I think it’s unfair not to give me the opportunity to fight for the belt.”
With the heavyweight title pictured clogged, Almeida decided to turn his focus to Magomed Ankalaev. The Russian talent dethroned Alex Pereira in March and wrote “all the guys turned me down and international fight week” on June 28, asking if there is “anyone in the light heavyweight division who’s willing to fight me?”
Almeida, who started his UFC career at 205 pounds before moving up to heavyweight, raised his hands to be the first to challenge the new UFC champion.
“I’m up for it,” said Almeida, criticizing Ankalaev for his tone. “The audacity of him… Not taking anything away form him, he’s the current champion, but you need time to prepare for a title fight. He sees that ‘Poatan’ is not focused on training right now, just got back to the gym. Jiri [Prochazka] said he’s in school right now, and [Ankalaev] is clout chasing. He’s like, ‘I’m the champion, I’ll make some noise.’ So I was like, since there are no fights for me at heavyweight, I’ll make the cut down in weight — if he agrees, of course — and make this fight happen.”
Almeida said he currently weighs 240 pounds, but the “sacrifice” of cutting to light heavyweight would be easier than in the past given his higher body fat. “Malhadinho”, who was approached by Pereira to help him prepare for Ankalaev but couldn’t do it due to an injury, is now willing to enter the cage to beat the UFC champion.
“The mistake he makes against me, if he does down on his back, he’s not getting back up,” Almeida said of Ankalaev. “I’m a finisher, either by knockout or submission.”
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