It’s no secret that the UFC Heavyweight division is in the s—tter.
Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane are great, but the division outside of the Top Five is truly abysmal, and there’s very little talent coming up the pipe. Athletic big men can make much more money in any number of sports that do not involve getting punched in the face, so understandably, it’s a hard sell for would-be Heavyweight prospects. Instead, the UFC and us fight fans end up mostly with the guys who don’t have any other athletic options,
and that’s why so many lower-level Heavyweight fights are terrible.
None of this applies to Jailton Almeida.
Almeida is very clearly an athlete, one of a handful of Heavyweights with a six-pack and defined pectoral muscles. He has fast-twitch explosion, m0st usually in the form of a double leg takedown that (until last night) had run each and every one of his UFC opponents off their feet. Add in the fact that Almeida has fought five rounds without running into serious cardio issues, and he might as well be a unicorn compared to his peers. Yet, while the division has never been worse, Almeida is somehow riding a two-fight losing streak and could be cut at any moment.
Almeida has developed a reputation — despite an exceptional finishing percentage of 95% — as the guy who refuses to throw ground strikes. It was truly baffling watching Almeida manhandle Derrick Lewis or Alexander Volkov and then just not do anything with his top control. Against Volkov, his inactivity cost him the decision, but last night’s more one-sided loss to Rizvan Kuniev helped explain the real issue at hand.
Jailton Almeida doesn’t like being a fighter. He doesn’t enjoy the act of fighting, nor does he particularly care about becoming a UFC champion.
All of this was obvious in Almeida’s incredibly flaccid performance last night. When Almeida couldn’t complete the early takedown like he’s done to everybody else, he just kind of existed for another 14 minutes. Occasionally, he would show off a quick right hand or thudding low kick, but there was no interest in building on those weapons and really trying to win. Almeida spent more of his time looking at the clock or complaining to the referee about the clinch, a situation he had the tools and energy to change himself.
Only the motivation was lacking.
Compare Almeida’s performance to Alex Morono on the “Prelims,” hopelessly outmatched by the younger and more powerful Daniil Donchenko. Morono is a ten-year UFC veteran with no knees, and he spent the fight getting kicked in the calf repeatedly and dropped multiple times. Still, Morono swung to the final bell, becoming the first man to combo spitting a mouthful of blood directly into a spinning elbow — there’s a man who loves being a fighter, even on a crappy day at the office.
Almeida, conversely, never turned it up as the fight continued to slip away nor did he seem particularly bothered by the outcome. This is a man who could be fighting for the belt, and instead he’s losing to unranked Kuniev … and he’s unfazed by the development? The Brazilian clearly isn’t that upset about sliding down the ladder. Perhaps he would prefer to face weaker competition again, foes he could easily submit without having to get his hands too dirty.
There is a realistic chance that Dana White and the UFC brass cut Almeida after this pair of losses. The division really can’t afford to give away any Heavyweight talent, but the UFC also doesn’t like “boring” fighters like Almeida. A man with the physical potential and skill set to be champion is very much on the chopping block.
Perhaps Jailton would be happier if given his pink slip.
