Jailton Almeida went 8-3 during his UFC tenure. |
Getty/UFC
Not even the promise of a change in weight classes was enough to
save Jailton
Almeida.
According to an initial report from Laerte Viana, the
UFC has released the 34-year-old Brazilian on the heels of
back-to-back losses to Alexander
Volkov and Rizvan
Kuniev. Meanwhile, MMAjunkie.com has confirmed that the promotion
already has informed Almeida of its decision.
The news comes a couple days after the
announcement that Almeida was planning to return to the light
heavyweight division, where he began his UFC career.
“Malhadinho” earned a UFC contract by winning a light heavyweight
fight on Dana White’s Contender Series in September 2021. He was
successful in his Octagon debut at 205 pounds, finishing Danilo
Marques in the opening stanza at UFC Fight Night 200 in
February 2022. After one 220-pound catchweight victory, the
Brazilian moved to the heavyweight division, where he has compiled
a 5-3 record since 2023.
Trending Downward
While Almeida secured noteworthy wins against the likes of Jairzinho
Rozenstruik, Derrick
Lewis and Serghei
Spivac, his last two performances were largely lackluster. In
his most recent loss against Kuniev at UFC Fight Night 266, Almeida
failed on all eight takedown attempts and appeared reluctant to
engage in striking exchanges for any significant period of
time.
In the prior fight against Volkov at UFC 321, Almeida landed seven
takedowns and racked up more than 10 minutes of control time but
landed just nine significant strikes in a split-decision defeat.
After the bout, UFC CEO Dana White stated that he was pleased that
Almeida was not awarded the decision.
“You can’t win a fight by just laying on top of somebody,” White
said at the UFC 321 post-fight press conference. “That’s not how it
works. I was actually very happy with the way judges scored that
fight.”
Almeida accepted the Kuniev fight on short notice,
revealing that it was supposedly part of a new contract with
the UFC.
“Actually, I always stay active,” Almeida told Ag.Fight ahead of
UFC Vegas 113. “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.”