“Malhadinho” wants “Bon Gamin.”
Jailton Almeida picked up his sixth straight UFC win last night at UFC Sao Paulo (Sat., Nov. 4, 2023) when he dominated Heavyweight knockout king Derrick Lewis for five rounds via unanimous decision in an ultimate snoozer from inside Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Brazil.
After his boring main event win, Almeida had a name locked and loaded for his next fight – a former UFC interim Heavyweight champion.
“You know we were worried; we knew he had a heavy hand,” Almeida told Michael Bisping during his in-cage interview. “We had 15-20 days to come up with a strategy for this fight, and we were able to keep him down and avoid his right hand. I was touched and didn’t really feel it. I’m going to call out a name here. I want Ciryl Gane. I’ll fight in Paris, we can do it in Salvador, wherever. I’m ready; let’s do it, Ciryl Gane.”
With Almeida’s lackluster dominant performance, a fight with the No. 1 ranked Heavyweight could be out of reach at the moment, and he’ll probably be looking at a rebooking with Curtis Blaydes, who he was supposed to fight at UFC Sao Paulo.
Backstage after his main event win, Almeida did make a point to say he wants to be in attendance for next weekend’s interim Heavyweight championship fight between Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich.
“Yeah, absolutely. I’m going to ask Dana [White] or Mick [Maynard] to get me a pair of tickets for my wife and I so we can get to know New York. But yeah, I want to sit front row to watch that fight for the interim belt. Who knows, maybe I can be on reserve if they need me,” Almeida said.
For complete UFC Sao Paulo results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
