A major shake-up is underway for the UFC heavyweight contender after he suffered his second consecutive defeat.
This past Saturday at UFC Vegas 113, Jailton Almeida stepped back into the Octagon to take on Rizvan Kuniev.
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Almeida had hoped to bounce back from a split decision loss to Alexander Volkov in his previous bout.
But with pressure mounting and his position in the division at stake, he fell short again.
Jailton Almeida decides to return to light heavyweight
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
After another disappointing outing, many fans were calling for Dana White to let Almeida go.
But the Brazilian has chosen his own path forward, seemingly before the UFC had a say in it.
According to Laerte Viana, Almeida’s manager said that the 34-year-old will drop back down to light heavyweight for his next fight.
‘Malhadinho’ earned his UFC contract at 205 pounds on Contender Series in 2021, where he defeated Nasrudin Nasrudinov.
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He then followed that up by knocking out Danilo Marques in the first round of his official UFC debut.
Soon after, he moved up to face Parker Porter, marking the start of his run as a heavyweight.
Even though Almeida is reportedly moving back down to 205lbs, it is not a size issue – his struggles have more to do with what he has shown inside the cage so far.
What is next for Jailton Almeida?
Almeida sits sixth in the heavyweight rankings, so it is hard to imagine he would step down to light heavyweight just to face someone outside the top 15.
Mingyang Zhang, who recently lost his unbeaten streak in the UFC to Johnny Walker, could be a logical opponent as Almeida returns to 205 lbs.
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