With four finishes under the UFC banner in 11 months, Jailton
Almeida has climbed to No. 14 in the UFC heavyweight
rankings.
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His most recent triumph, a second-round TKO of Shamil
Abdurakhimov at UFC 283, has him in line to face another ranked
foe in his next promotional appearance. Almeida recently took to
social media to call out Marcin
Tybura, who outpointed Blagoy
Ivanov at UFC Fight Night 218 this past Saturday.
“Hey Marcin
Tybura, I just saw your victory. Shall we fight [next]?
Everyone likes to see two good heavyweight grapplers fighting each
other,” Almeida wrote. “We are in close positions in the ranking, I
fought two weeks ago, I think it will be a perfect moment to fight
in May. [Are you] ready?”
Shortly after his victory at UFC 283, Almeida discussed meeting
some of the sports icons.
“Fighting in front of an audience was a unique experience, but what
affected me even more a UFC Rio was the chance to meet my heroes
‘Minotauro,’ ‘Shogun’ and Aldo,” he said.
Almeida revealed that he almost cried when he met Nogueira in
person.
“Since he works for the UFC, we talked via WhatsApp a couple of
times. I call him general of the Brazilian Squad, but meeting him
was a unique emotion. I got tears in my eyes,” he said.
Almeida revealed that he crossed paths with Rua while he was
warming up to fight.
“I was doing some pads and Shogun entered in the area to do his
doping test,” he said. “When I was going to the Octagon I walked to
him and said, ‘Excuse me Shogun, I´m going there to continue your
legacy.’ He was so nice and wished me good luck.”
Former lightweight champion Rafael dos
Anjos also surprised him.
“How does a guy who is a former UFC champion and faced the best of
the best in two divisions come to talk to me and say he is my fan?
How does this happen?” Almeida asked.
His biggest surprise happened the day after UFC 283 when a sponsor
took him to dinner. Jose Aldo was
seated nearby and asked to take a picture with Almeida, calling the
heavyweight the future of Brazil.
“I´m a shy person. When I entered the restaurant and saw him, I was
building up the courage to talk to him,” Almeida said. “When he
came over first and suggested a picture together, I said, ‘My God,
you are my idol. You are the face of Brazil.’”
“Maladhinho” hopes that gaining inspiration from his Brazilian
idols will eventually propel him to a dream showdown in the
Octagon.
“Getting all the support from my heroes just makes me train more to
reach my dream of one day being a UFC champion,” Almeida said.
“[Jon] Jones is another of my heroes in the sport, and I hope one
day I´ll be able to share the Octagon with him.”