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Rising heavyweight prospect Jailton Almeida is ready to impress fans and the company’s executives in his first ever main event tonight at UFC on ABC 4. Paired up against heavy-hitter Jairzinho Rozenstruik, ‘Malhadiho’ wants to showcase all of his skills in the Octagon next Saturday.
Now looking to climb the rankings further, the Brazilian looks to put on a memorable performance against the number 9 heavyweight in the official UFC rankings UFC on ABC 4.
Jailton Almeida plans to take Rozenstruik to the ground
Though he aims to impress, Almeida made sure to emphasize how dangerous Rozenstruik’s striking can be, in an interview with Super Lutas. For this reason, Jailton hopes to take Jairzinho to the ground and use his grappling to nullify his opponent’s dangerous stand-up game. With 11 submission wins on his record, the Brazilian aims to take Jairzinho to his element in order to avoid any unecessary risks.
“Jairzinho is an extremely dangerous guy, an experienced guy. It’s no wonder he is number 9 in the rankings. He’s fought many guys, including world champions and he’s trying to get to the belt too. He has really dangerous striking, but I’ll look to impose my gameplan. My strong suit is his weakness. I’ll try to be efficient, take him to the ground and catch him.”
Jailton Almeida feels ready to strike against Rozenstruik
Should the fight hit the mat anyway, Jailton guarantees he is still ready to go toe to toe with Rozenstruik. Though Almeida acknowledges that Jairzinho’s hands are dangerous, the Brazilian bets on his footwork to avoid his opponent’s power shots. If necessary, Malhadinho is ready to implement the cautious strategy for all five rounds of the main event.
“I’m ready. I trained a lot of boxing for this fight, just like I did for my last opponent. If he’s able to defend my takedowns, I’ll have a plan B. I move pretty well, I’m athletic heavyweight. He doesn’t move very much, he stands still. I’ll be moving around until I find an opening to impose my gameplan.”
“There will be a lot of studying in the beginning”, Almeida said. “He’s not going to march right in. I don’t think he ever does that in any fight. He waits for his opponent to act. I’m really ready to go five rounds. If it’s meant to be quick, it will. If we go five rounds, that’s cool too. If he blinks, I’m only going to stop when the ref yells ‘stop’ and I walk away celebrating.”
Jailton Almeida is undefeated in the UFC
In his last outing, Jailton Almeida (18-2) scored a TKO victory over Shamil Abdurakhimov, back in January of this year. The victory put the 31-year-old on a four-fight win streak in the UFC heavyweight division, with victories over Anton Turkalj, Parker Porter and Danilo Marques. In fact, Malhadinho has not lost a match since January 2018, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Bruno Assis.
Meanwhile, Jairzinho Rozenstruik (13-4) is looking to put together a new win streak after his knockout victory over Chris Daukaus in December 2022. The victory made the 35-year-old snap a two-fight losing skid, with a TKO defeat to Alexander Volkov and a unanimous decision one to Curtis Blaydes, respectively in June 2022 and September 2021.
Now, Jailton Almeida is expected to take on Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC on ABC 4’s main event, in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 13. A light heavyweight bout between Anthony Smith and Johnny Walker is set to be the event’s co-main event.
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