Rankings Shakeup: Is Jailton Almeida a top-5 heavyweight after dominant UFC Charlotte win?

Jailton Almeida won’t be stopped.

The beastly Brazilian scored another quick finish in the main event of UFC Charlotte, needing less than four minutes to ground Jairzinho Rozenstruik, shred his defenses, and lock in a rear-naked choke. It was the fifth UFC win for Almeida, all by knockout or submission, and his 14th straight win overall.

He has all the makings of a champion, but does his current body of work place him among the elite of the heavyweight division?

Though Almeida continues to rise in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings with his latest win, he still falls just short of the top 5, just behind perennial contender Curtis Blaydes and former interim champion Ciryl Gane. This shouldn’t be taken as any criticism of Almeida’s performances — he’s passed the eye test with flying colors, he just doesn’t have the in-octagon accomplishments of those listed above him yet.

That’s not to say that some members of are panel aren’t more than happy to place Almeida among the best of the best. He was ranked as high as No. 3 by one voter, as well as a No. 4 and a No. 5 vote, with the rest ranking him somewhere from No. 6 to No. 10. Suffice to say, there’s much debate about how Almeida’s strength of schedule compares to someone like Blaydes, as well as how much weight to put on how he’d fare in hypothetical matchups with Blaydes, Gane, Sergei Pavlovich, UFC champ Jon Jones, and free agent Francis Ngannou.

In all likelihood, Almeida could be fighting for gold sooner rather than later depending on what happens with the pending Jones vs. Stipe Miocic matchup and whether either of those names even plan to stick around beyond 2023. In the event that a vacant or interim title bout is made anytime soon, Almeida is a lock to be one half of the booking.

Is Almeida the real deal or has he been rated too highly?

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