Alexander Volkov spent almost no time on his feet at UFC 321 but his ability to dish out damage from the ground was still enough to get past Jailton Almeida in a potential No. 1 contender’s fight at heavyweight.
Despite getting taken down repeatedly during the fight, Volkov just kept throwing short punches and elbows while defending effectively with Almeida doing almost nothing except maintaining control and occasionally trying to advance his position. While it was anything but a barnburner, Volkov still did enough to get the nod with two judges giving him 29-28 scores with the third official going 29-28 for Almeida.
“Everybody asked me before how I feel and now I feel better,” Volkov said after losing a razor close decision in his previous fight against Ciryl Gane. “It was a hard fight. I was more active on the ground. It doesn’t matter, now we know who is next. It is me.
Almost as quickly as the fight started, Almeida grabbed a leg and brought Volkov to the canvas to bring the action into his world on the ground. Volkov used wrist control to prevent Almeida from advancing and then managed a slick reversal to put the Brazilian on his back.
On top, Volkov started hammering away with punches and elbows with Almeida holding onto a leg in an attempt to regain a superior position. Volkov continued chipping away with Almeida unable to break free as he just absorbed the punishment.
As round two got underway, Almeida was once again able to get inside to grab the leg for another takedown with Volkov falling into guard. Volkov continued to scramble, which eventually allowed Almeida to take his back but the Russian was eventually able to spin out to end up on his back again.
A lack of activity forced a standup from referee Marc Goddard but Almeida almost immediately dove for another takedown to put Volkov on the ground again. This time, Volkov latched onto the arm in a potential kimura attempt from the bottom but Almeida just stayed patient until time expired.
With five minutes remaining, Volkov shrugged off another takedown attempt and he started throwing some knees to the body but Almeida was undeterred as he kept moving forward until getting the fight back to the floor. Volkov couldn’t stop the takedowns but he was at least trying to produce some offense off his back and that really was the difference in the fight.
Through three rounds, Almeida did almost no damage and never came close on any submissions while Volkov at least connected with some solid shots on the ground to help secure a victory.
Volkov now gets back on track and looking at the landscape at heavyweight, it’s entirely possible he gets the next title shot against the winner of the UFC 321 main event.
