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Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions. The UFC either announced or finalized ten fights this week, and a potential return to Brazil featuring one of its up-and-coming stars is set.
Since his arrival to the UFC after a successful appearance on Contender Series, Jailton Almeida has ran roughshod over his competition. ‘Malhadinho’ finished all of his opponents, which includes his most recent appearance. In his first headliner, Almeida received a step up in competition in Jairzinho Rozenstruik, one of the hardest punchers in the heavyweight division.
‘Bigi Boy’ threw two significant punches, neither of which touched the Brazilian, who immediately got the fight to the ground and finished Rozenstruik via first-round rear-naked choke. After that, he said he wanted to continue to test himself against the elite of the division, so he requested Tai Tuivasa for his next fight.
The promotion went in a different direction, though, and gave Almeida Curtis Blaydes, who is easily his toughest test to date. Per Nolan King and Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie, ‘Razor’ returns to the Octagon after his first-round TKO loss to Sergei Pavlovich at UFC Vegas 71 this past April. The Elevation Fight Team product was previously on a three-fight win streak that included finishes of Chris Daukaus and Tom Aspinall. Blaydes vs. Almeida should be a fun one, folks.
Announced UFC fights:
UFC 289 — June 10
- David Dvořák vs. Stephen Erceg — flyweight (First rep. by Christopher Reive of New Zealand Herald Sport)
UFC Vegas 76 — July 1
- Alexandr Romanov vs. Blagoy Ivanov — heavyweight (First rep. by Nolan King and Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie)
- Yana Santos vs. Macy Chiasson — women’s bantamweight (First rep. by Mike Bohn and Nolan King of MMA Junkie)
UFC Vegas 77 — July 15
- Austin Lingo vs. Melquizael Costa — featherweight (First rep. by Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting)
UFC 291 — July 29
- Joanne Wood vs. Priscila Cachoeira — women’s flyweight (First rep. by Harry Davies of Mirror Fighting)
- Roman Kopylov vs. Claudio Ribeiro — middleweight
- Matthew Semelsberger vs. Yohan Lainasse — welterweight
UFC Vegas 78 — August 12
- Polyana Viana vs. Iasmin Lucindo — women’s strawweight (First rep. by Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting)
UFC 292 — August 19
- Gerald Meerschaert vs. Andre Petroski — middleweight (First rep. by Petroski on Instagram)
UFC Fight Night — November 4
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Jailton Almedia — heavyweight (First rep. by Nolan King and Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie)
Announced Bellator fights:
Bellator Dublin — September 23
- Aaron Pico vs. Pedro Carvalho — featherweight (First rep. by Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting)
- Levan Chokheli vs. Sabah Homasi — welterweight (First rep. by Giorgi Kokiashvili of Setanta Sports)
Announced Cage Warriors fights:
Cage Warriors 16 — July 1
- Rory Evans vs. Jack Eglin — bantamweight
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