After submitting the undefeated Nasrudin
Nasrudinov on Dana White’s Contender Series to earn a UFC
contract, Jailton
Almeida impressed yet again with a first-round TKO of Danilo
Marques in his Octagon debut on Feb. 5.
Now, the Brazilian known as “Malhadinho” is eagerly anticipating
his return to action against Maxim
Grishin at a UFC Fight Night event on May 21.
“I’m happy UFC gave me another tough test. Maxim has almost three
times more MMA fights than I, but I´ll show on May 21 how well
trained I am and shock the world again,” Almeida told Sherdog.com.
“I´m going the be the Khabib
Nurmagomedov of 205-pound division.”
While he admires Brazilian icons such as Anderson
Silva, Jose Aldo,
Mauricio
Rua, Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira and Wanderlei
Silva, Almeida points to the likes of Nurmagomedov and Khamzat
Chimaev as fighters that he admires most.
“I study their game a lot,” he said. “My goal is always to mix
their grappling style with my jiu-jitsu submissions and
ground-and-pound game.”
The son of a former professional boxer, “Malhadinho” started
training when he was 6 years old. By age 11, Almeida began training
in jiu-jitsu. By 2018, he was considered the best brown belt in his
state (Bahia) and was awarded his black belt.
Jailton made his professional MMA debut in 2012. Over the past 10
years, he has competed in four different divisions, ranging from
welterweight to heavyweight. After defeating UFC veterans Ednaldo
Oliveira and Ildemar
Alcantara on the regional scene, Almeida began to attract
attention from larger organizations throughout the world.
“I’m addicted to training. No matter the day of the week, if there
is one teammate at the headquarters of my team, Galpão da Luta,
I´ll be there,” he said.
Almeida’s perspective changed for good when he cornered Carlos
Felipe at UFC Fight Night 172 in Abu Dhabi in July 2020.
“When I entered the arena and felt the crowd, the lights and the
sounds of the UFC, I got goose pimples and immediately said to my
manager, Leo Patera, that fighting in the Octagon was my main
goal,” Almeida said.
A few months later, he received a call from the promotion to face
Marcin
Tybura on short notice, but he was unable to accept the
bout.
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the visa on time,” he said.
“But God had a better plan for me. I got an invitation for the
Contender Series in my division and proved my value in the best way
possible. I´m sure this was the first chapter of my long journey.
Write it down: I came to make history in UFC.”