Jailton
Almeida and Shamil
Abdurakhimov will lock horns at
UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 22.
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Almeida confirmed the heavyweight booking on his Instagram account
following an initial report from
AgFight. Almedia and Abdurakhimov were initially slated to
square off at UFC 279 before Abdurakhimov was forced to withdraw
from the event due to visa issues.
Almeida has been on a tear since earning a UFC contract with a
second-round submission of Nasrudin
Nasrudinov on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021. He has
kicked off his promotional tenure with first-round finishes of
Danilo
Marques, Parker
Porter and Anton
Turkalj. The 31-year-old Brazilian known as “Malhadinho” has
won his last 12 professional outings overall.
The 41-year-old Abdurakhimov will enter the matchup with Almeida on
a three-bout skid in the Octagon. The Dagestani last appeared at
UFC Fight Night 204 on March 19, when he suffered a first-round TKO
loss to Sergei
Pavlovich. Abdurakhimov is 5-5 in UFC competition, with wins
over the likes of Marcin
Tybura, Andrei
Arlovski and Walt
Harris.