Jailton Almeida Prepared for Wild Battle With Shamil Abdurakhimov in September

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A two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship threat has decided on his proper weight class after wins in both categories.

After two impressive wins in different weight divisions of light heavyweight and heavyweight, against Danilo Marques and Parker Porter, respectively, Jailton Almeida (16-2) has decided his path. “Malhadinho” will be remaining at the highest weight category, and his next matchup comes on Sept. 10 in Las Vegas against Shamil Abdurakhimov (20-7). A win would propel the Brazilian into the top 15, and Almeida spoke to Sherdog about his upcoming fight on Wednesday.

“I talked to my manager and we decided to stay in heavyweight,” Almeida explained, “a division where I don't need to lose weight and have the advantage of being faster than most of my opponents.”

Almeida’s last appearance came as he weighed in at a svelte 224 pounds, and despite his foe Porter maintaining a 41-pound advantage over him, Almeida handled Porter on the mat before tapping him with a rear-naked choke. His next challenge against Russian grappler Abdurakhimov may be a significant step up in ranked competition, and Almeida is excited to be put to the test.

“I respect Russian fighters a lot,” Almeida stated. “As I said before, [Khamzat] Chimaev and [Khabib] Nurmagomedov are my favorite fighters. Facing a Russian always motivates me to train more.”

While his fight with Porter came on short notice, Almeida is taking this next camp extremely seriously. A full 10 full weeks will go into it in order to reach his peak.

“Shamil is really experienced and already faced some of the tougher guys of the division. I’ll be prepared for a war, but I have no doubt my hand will be raised by the end,” the Brazilian confidently expressed.

The son of a former professional boxer, “Malhadinho” started training at the age of six. When he turned 11, Almeida began to learn jiu-jitsu as well. The Brazilian picked up his black belt in 2018, after being considered among the best brown belts in his state of Bahia. Before winning a contract with UFC by submitting Russia’s Nasrudin Nasrudinov, Almeida had strung together an eight-fight win streak with eight first-round finishes. As he worked his way up the Brazilian scene, Almeida impressed matchmakers by tapping out former UFC fighters Ednaldo Oliveira and Ildemar Alcantara within two rounds.

While Almeida is coming into their matchup with great momentum behind him, the 40-year-old Abdurakhimov is bringing the opposite. The Russian has suffered three consecutive knockouts dating back to 2019, falling victim to strikes from Curtis Blaydes, Chris Daukaus and Sergei Pavlovich. The 10-fight UFC veteran has picked up wins over names including Andrei Arlovski, Marcin Tybura and Walt Harris since joining the organization in 2015.