One prominent
Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight is not mad, he’s
just disappointed.
After suffering his second defeat in the promotion to Alexander
Volkov at UFC 321, the 10-fight UFC vet Jailton
Almeida returns to the Octagon on Saturday. He battles another
Russian in the hulking Rizvan
Kuniev, with the two coming to blows at UFC Vegas 113, also
known as
UFC Fight Night 266, in Las Vegas. In a conversation with
Ag. Fight on Wednesday, the Brazilian revealed why he
accepted the short-notice matchup with the unranked Kuniev.
“Actually, I always stay active,” Almeida explained. “Even when I
don’t have a fight, I’m helping my teammates. When the UFC offered
the fight three weeks ago, with the option to renew the contract, I
talked to my manager and we decided to accept this first fight of
the new contract.”
While a wrestler in Curtis
Blaydes and a striker in Volkov have gotten the better of him
in the cage thus far, Almeida sees a far different stylistic clash
with two-time Dana White’s Contender Series competitor.
“Kuniev is a very dangerous guy, that’s why nobody agreed to fight
him,” “Malhadinho” expressed. “Everyone thought he had won the
fight with Curtis Blaydes, but I’m going there to play my game,
come out with the victory and get back on the path to the belt
again.”
Jailton also spoke about the lessons learned from his close
decision loss to Volkov.
“There is no defeat. There is learning. I controlled the fight from
the top, but I lacked aggressiveness, obviously. I was trained for
that, but I wasn’t confident enough to execute it. I think that was
the only detail,” the Brazilian analyzed.
A Real Man Can’t Have Two Faces
Almeida, 34, is the highest-ranked Brazilian in the heavyweight
division. He began his career in the sport in 2012 and debuted in
the UFC in 2022. Throughout his career, the Bahia, Brazil, native
has built a record of 22 wins, 21 by stoppage, and he has suffered
four losses. Almeida can hang his hat on victories over names like
Derrick
Lewis, Jairzinho
Rozenstruik and Serghei
Spivac.
In a broadcast earlier this week, the heavyweight spoke to
journalist Laerte Viana about his hurt feelings regarding criticism
from UFC commentator and former heavyweight champion Daniel
Cormier. He learned of Cormier’s negative words during in a
conversation with Tom
Aspinall backstage at UFC Abu Dhabi during his fight week with
Volkov.
“Cormier is an exceptional guy,” Almeida made sure to say first. “I
always joked with him, but I think [what he said about me is]
unprofessional of him. Because the guy was whispering about another
athlete. Even though he’s a UFC employee, he has no right to do
that. I think it was disrespectful to me. I always treated him like
an icon, an idol of the sport. And then he goes and says something
like that? You end up disappointed.”
The frustrated Brazilian continued, “Then, he made a post
apologizing, but we’re not in anyone’s heart. I’ll let this
situation pass. I’m a man and I speak my mind. I don’t say anything
behind anyone’s back. If it’s to say something good, I say it. If
it’s to say something bad, I say it to anyone’s face. My father
taught me that. I will always be a man, regardless of anything. If
the time comes and he talks to me, I’ll talk to him. If he doesn’t
talk to me, f*** him. But I think that’s something a guy who isn’t
a man would do. To whisper in someone’s ear about someone who
always respected him, always treated him very well? I always
treated him like a sports icon for him to talk badly about me like
that. It’s messed up. A real man can’t have two faces. He has to be
a man, regardless of anything.”
