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Jailton Almeida hopes to make a statement at UFC 321. | Getty/UFC
With eight wins in nine Octagon appearances, Jailton Almeida is gearing up to face fellow heavyweight contender Alexander Volkov at UFC 321 on Saturday.
“Besides being [6 feet, 7 inches] tall, Volkov has almost 50 MMA fights. I have no doubt he will bring different challenges to me, that’s why I trained so hard in this camp,” Almeida told Sherdog.com “I’m aware that this win will take me to the title fight.”
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Almeida was able to learn from Volkov’s previous losses to Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane, who will square off for heavyweight gold in the UFC 321 main event.
“He uses his range very well with straight punches and teeps. But he gets kind of lost when the opponents cut the distance,” Almeida said. “That’s exactly what Aspinal did submitting him in the sequence. Gane did a more even fight with him but showed some weak points on the ground. He gave some positions to Gane on the ground where a more experienced grappler would have submitted him.”
Almeida, Volkov Fared Differently vs. ‘The Black Beast’
Both Almeida and Volkov have a common opponent in Derrick Lewis. While the Russian suffered a late KO loss to “The Black Beast” at UFC 229, Almeida took a five-round verdict over Lewis in the UFC Fight Night 231 headliner in November 2023.
“Lewis was also a very dangerous striker. Actually he knocked out Volkov, but I was able to deal with his knockout power and dominate him for five rounds,” Almeida said.
Although the matchup with Volkov will be three rounds, the Galpao da Luta product revealed that he trained in camp as if the fight would be for five.
“We have to consider that the main event will be a title fight in my weight division. Volkov is ahead of me in the rankings, but if you consider that he lost to both [men] and I didn’t face any of them, I might be chosen. Anyway, if UFC needs me, I´ll be ready,” he said.
Asked to choose a perfect scenario, “Malhadinho” envisions an impressive win over Volkov Saturday in Abu Dhabi and an invitation to the White House event in June together with countrymates Alex Pereira and Charles Oliveira.
“Fighting Aspinal or Gane for the heavyweight belt on the White House card would be historical,” Almeida said.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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