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Jailton Almeida is calling out another hard-hitting heavyweight for his next UFC bout.
“Malhadinho” ran through Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the main event of UFC Charlotte this past Saturday and immediately voiced his desire to share the cage with Tai Tuivasa next. Speaking with MMA Fighting on Monday, Almeida said he wants it to take place in Brazil.
“I plan on fighting by the end of the year, October or November. If it’s in Brazil, fighting at home again, even better,” Almeida said on this week’s episode of MMA Fighting podcast Trocação Franca. “People liked watching me fight in Brazil so to have my friends and family around me again would be awesome. The energy of the Brazilian people is different.”
The UFC has yet to announce a date for its return to Brazil in 2023 after hosting UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro on Jan. 21, and “Malhadinho” is open to headlining the card if it’s a Fight Night show.
“It would be great to do the main event again, and even better if it’s against Tuivasa,” Almeida said. “Bring him to drink our beer.”
“Malhadinho” said he’s “happy with the work my team and I are doing, but can’t let it go to my head.” Almeida (19-2) won five straight in the UFC, outstriking his opponents 114-2 combined.
Almeida said he met Daniel Cormier in the hotel lobby in Charlotte after the fight and was invited to visit AKA one day. He plans on visiting the team in California in the future for a training session with former UFC champions Cormier and Khabib Nurmagomedov — “it would be a dream,” he said.
Tuivasa won seven of his eight UFC wins by knockout, finishing the likes of Derrick Lewis, Augusto Sakai, Greg Hardy and Stefan Struve, but dropped his past two by stoppage to Ciryl Gane and Sergei Pavlovich.
“I want to end the year near the top-5 so I asked his name,” Almeida said. “He’s extremely dangerous. Those who know Tai Tuivasa know the risk I’ll take in this fight. The same thing it was against Jairzinho. It’s time to get tested. He’s more dense, heavier [than Rozenstruik], a guy that cuts weight to make the heavyweight limit. He’s dangerous on the feet, like Jairzinho. Where he lands, it doesn’t grow hair again. But we’re ready for everything, like I always say.”
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