With the UFC’s second event in Brazil just days away, fans are very keen to witness two ferocious Heavyweights collide in Sao Paulo. Originally, Curtis Blaydes was set to face Jailton Almeida in November but due to injury, he withdrew from the fight as he believed he could not compete. Despite this, the UFC have made a very interesting replacement as Derrick Lewis steps in to headline the event and compete against Almeida in his home country.
Derrick Lewis’ most recent victory came against Marcos de Lima after hitting a flying knee, very early on in the first round, before finishing the Brazilian with a ground-and-pound and winning the fight by TKO.
This ended his three-fight losing streak after losing to big UFC Heavyweight contenders, Tai Tuivasa, Sergei Pavlovich and Sergei Spivac. The victory would put him as the #10 Heavyweight contender despite previously being the #3 contender back at UFC 271 in February 2022.
The Black Beast is very well-known in the UFC community as he holds the current record for the most KO/TKO victories in UFC history with a total of 14. He has 22 knockout victories in his MMA career.
The Texan-born fighter has been involved in two UFC title fights. The first was against former Heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier, at UFC 230 where he lost by Submission in the second round. His second was for the Interim UFC Heavyweight title at UFC 265 but it would not go in Lewis’ favour as he lost by a third-round TKO against French fighter and the current #1 Heavyweight contender, Ciryl Gane.
Jailton Almeida’s most recent fight came against Jairzinho Rozenstruik as the main-event of UFC Charlotte, winning the fight in the first round by Submission.
Malhadinho is currently undefeated in the UFC with five fights with three of those by Submission and two by TKO. In his MMA career, he is on a 14-fight winning streak as every victory Almeida has earned, has finished in either the first or second round.
The Brazilian fighter only earned his way into the UFC back in September 2021 where he earned a second-round Submission win to claim a contract into the MMA organisation.
Since then, Jailton has been on a five-fight winning streak in the UFC with three Submission victories and two TKO wins. A win against Derrick Lewis could possibly put him against one of the top Heavyweight contenders which could then earn him a title shot if victorious.
Almeida has already fought once in his home country when he finished Shamil Abdurakhimov by TKO at UFC 283 in Brazil.
Other fights you should watch out for
Kaue Fernandes vs Marc Diakese – Fernandes makes his UFC debut in the UFC Lightweight division. Diakese looks to pick up some form back after losing his previous two fights, one of which came from his home country, England.
Vitor Petrino vs Modestas Bukauskas – Petrino is looking to be a future UFC Light Heavyweight contender as he remains undefeated with his most recent victory ending by Submission at UFC 290. Bukauskas did not have a great start to his UFC career but after picking up two victories in Cage Warriors, he has gained two victories on his return to the big MMA promotion.
Rinat Fakhretdinov vs Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos – Fakhretdinov has proved to not disappoint with 21 wins and only one loss in his career. His most recent win came against noticeable fighter, Kevin Lee, where he won by Submission in just 55 second of the first round. Dos Santos has 13 fights in the UFC, only losing three of them. After serving a one-year ban for a failed drug test, Elizeu returned at UFC Vegas 74 with a Unanimous Decision victory as he looks to make a better name for himself with a win against an extremely hard opponent like Rinat.
Gabriel Bonfim vs Nicolas Dalby – Bonfim is undefeated in his MMA career and has made a dream start in the UFC with two wins, both coming by Submission early in the first round. Gabriel has looked like a true Welterweight contender and with a win in the Co-Main Event, he may become more noticed. Nicolas Dalby has only lost once in the UFC with seven fights for the organisation. Every result, apart from one fight which ended in a No Conest, has ended by decision in his UFC career as he could get another one to snap Bonfim’s undefeated record.
The Ginasio do Ibirapuera is the venue that will host UFC Sao Paulo. The last time the UFC visited Sao Paulo was when Jan Blachowicz faced Jacare Souza in the Main Event back in November 2019 where Blachowicz would win by Split Decision.
Who do you believe will come out of Brazil victorious? Who are you most excited to see?
Featured Image: Flickr, wallpaperuse
Written by Charlie Oxtoby
Instagram: charlie_oxtoby
MMA Instagram: undisputed._.mma
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