If Jailton Almeida can emerge victorious and injury-free from UFC 299, ‘Malhadinho’ wants a quick turnaround for Brazil against Gane, Pavlovich, or Aspinall.
The surging Brazilian first must get through Curtis Blaydes at UFC 299 this weekend, certainly no easy task by any means, but is already eyeing a potential homecoming for UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro.
Three heavyweights are in the 32-year-old’s sights already: former interim champion Ciryl Gane, former interim title challenger Sergei Pavlovich, and current interim champion Tom Aspinall.
Jailton Almeida has three heavyweights in his UFC 301 crosshairs
Making plans for a quick turnaround in the UFC whilst there’s a dangerous fight on the horizon is typically a sure way to lose perspective and underestimate an opponent, especially when you’re about to face a juggernaut like Curtis Blaydes.
Yet at the UFC 299 media day, as per a livestream on the MMAFighting YouTube channel, Brazilian contender Jailton Almeida teased that quick dispatching of Blaydes could punch his ticket to a homecoming on the UFC 301 card in Brazil:
“It would be great [but] the big thing is what happens in this fight. If I’m uninjured and everything is in order, it’s going to be about eight weeks, maybe a little bit less than that, but it’s more than enough time for me to get ready.”
UFC 301 is scheduled for May 4 and currently doesn’t have a main event, or much of a main card with only a handful of fights being announced so far.
The consensus opinion has been that Alexandre Pantoja would be the favorite to headline the Rio de Janeiro PPV either against Brandon Royval or Muhammad Mokaev, or even Alex Pereira should he breeze past Hill just a few weeks prior.
However, if UFC 301 does have an open spot available and ‘Malhadinho’ can emerge victorious this weekend without sustaining much damage, he sees potential dance partners at the top of the heavyweight tree:
“You need a dancing partner for that, so you need to see if any of the people that could be a proper opponent for me like Pavlovich or Gane, heck even Tom Aspinall maybe since it’s a PPV, would be ready to fight on sort-of short notice.”
“I’m ready and willing, as long as I don’t get injured then I’m happy to do that,” said Almeida.
None of the three names mentioned by Almeida have fights scheduled at the time of writing, with Pavlovich recently teasing a return to the octagon on social media.
Jailton Almeida faces Curtis Blaydes in the featured preliminary bout of the evening, this weekend at UFC 299 in Miami.