Jailton
Almeida believes one half of the
UFC 295 co-main event has a clear edge over the other.
Sergei
Pavlovich (18-1) will take on fellow surging contender Tom
Aspinall (13-3) at Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 11
for the interim heavyweight title. The replacement bout was
announced a little more than two weeks before Jon Jones’
scheduled title defense against Stipe
Miocic fell through, as “Bones” suffered a torn pectoral muscle
in training.
While Aspinall is a slight -130 favorite on some sportsbooks in the
evenly-matched booking, Almeida (19-2) sees Pavlovich having an
advantage. It is worth noting that the Russian was originally
supposed to weigh-in as the backup for the title fight between
Jones and Miocic.
Keeping that in mind, Almeida believes Pavlovich will have an edge
as he was already in a title-fight mindset as opposed to his
English opponent, who was just training as usual.
“Jones’ injury opens up opportunities, and now we have Aspinall vs.
Pavlovich. As far as who I see as the favorite, I think Aspinall
didn’t have the mentality that he was going to fight for the belt.
Actually, after his fight, he said he wanted Ciryl Gane.”
Almedia said during
UFC Fight Night 231 media day.
“Meanwhile, Pavlovich is a guy that had his mind focused on
fighting for the belt, and he was serving as a backup and was doing
a full camp. I think I’ll favor Pavlovich. He’s the guy with the
full camp, and Aspinall was just training to train. He wasn’t
mentally ready for a title fight. He wasn’t thinking about the
title.”
Currently undefeated in the UFC with all wins coming via stoppage,
Almeida is scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night 231 in Sao Paulo
opposite Derrick
Lewis (27-11) this weekend.
“However, I’m also happy for the opportunities to fight for the
title that get opened up now. Jones is out and now Aspinall is
fighting Pavlovich. If I beat Lewis on Saturday, I could be next or
maybe they make me do one more. There’s a lot going on in the
division, but it might open up opportunities.”