Outside Source
Jailton Almeida is 8-2 during his UFC tenure. | Getty/UFC
Jailton Almeida is beginning his 2026 UFC campaign with a short-notice booking.
The Brazilian heavyweight has agreed to replace Ryan Spann and face Rizvan Kuniev at UFC Vegas 113 — also known as UFC Fight Night 266 — at the UFC Apex In Las Vegas on Feb. 7. Leo Guimaraes was first to report the change. It’s unclear why Spann withdrew from the card. UFC Fight Night 266 is headlined by a bantamweight duel between Mario Bautista and Vinicius Oliveira and airs in its entirety on Paramount+.
Brazil vs. Dagestan
Almeida had a two-bout winning streak snapped in his last Octagon appearance, as he dropped a split decision to Alexander Volkov at UFC 321 this past October. “Maladinho” is 8-2 over the course of his promotional tenure and owns notable wins over the likes of Serghei Spivac, Derrick Lewis and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
In his lone appearance of 2025, Kuniev suffered a split-decision defeat against Curtis Blaydes at UFC Baku on June 21. That marked the end of an 11-bout professional unbeaten streak for the 33-year-old Dagestani, who earned a UFC contract with a first-round stoppage of Hugo Cunha on Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2024.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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