Jailton Almeida opens as betting favorite to defeat Curtis Blaydes in UFC Sao Paulo headliner in November
In the midst of a promotional-perfect run, streaking heavyweight finisher, Jailton Almeida has opened as a considerable betting favorite to defeat divisional staple, Curtis Blaydes in November – as the duo are linked to share the Octagon in the main event of UFC Fight Night Sao Paulo.
Almeida, the current #9 ranked heavyweight contender, recently booked his third Octagon walk of this year, and his second consecutive main event outing, having landed in the UFC from Dana White’s Contender Series back in February of only last year.
Improving 19-2 as a professional back in May en route to a Performance of the Night bonus, Jailton Almeida stopped heavyweight knockout force and common-foe, Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a one-sided opening round rear-naked choke win.
As for Blaydes, the perennial heavyweight contender himself suffered a catastrophic result in his pursuit of a premiere title challenge at the weight limit, dropping a first round knockout loss to Sergei Pavlovich in April – snapping a three-fight winning run.
And according to several bookies and markets, Jailton Almeida, who makes his second Brazilian homecoming this year, can be backed as high as a -150 betting favorite already to defeat the +130 underdog, Blaydes before their fight in the sophomore month of 2023.
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Landing in the UFC in just February of last year following a successful outing on Dana White’s Contender Series, Jailton Almeida – a former welterweight, managed to debut with a first round TKO win over Danilo Marques.
In four consecutive wins since, Almeida landed a submission win over Parker Porter, Anton Turkajl, and earlier this year prior to his win over Rozenstruik, stopped Shamil Abdurakhimov with second round ground strikes at UFC 283 in January of this year on home soil.
Enjoying a three-fight winning spree prior to his late-April knockout loss to Pavlovich, Blaydes secured consecutive triumphs against the trio of the above-mentioned, Rozenstruik, a stunning TKO win over Chris Daukaus, and emerged victorious after Tom Aspinall suffered a brutal knee injury just 15-seconds into this UFC Fight Night London headliner last July.
A veteran heavyweight contender under the banner of the UFC, Blaydes has also successfully defeated the likes of Alexey Oleynik, Mark Hunt, Alistair Overeem, Alexander Volkov, and former undisputed heavyweight champion, Junior dos Santos.
Recently laying out plans to potentially force current heavyweight champion, Jon Jones’ hand on his potential incoming retirement from mixed martial arts competition, Almeida hoped to challenge for divisional gold before the end of next year.
“I hope he (Jon Jones) stays,” Jailton Almeida said. “I hope he beats (Stipe) Miocic and said, ‘I’ll do one more fight. Put me in against anyone.’ it would be very satisfying if they [the UFC] put me there. It’s like completing the game. Fighting and beating the all-time best.”
“This fight would be very difficult for me,” Jailton Almeida explained. “Jon Jones is a complete fighter, everybody knows that. He’s very versatile in everything he does. I’d let things go and focus on his weak spots to catch him. Study the fight early on and try to do my thing to finish the fight.”
