Almeida looks to continue his rise

Jailton Almeida will look to continue his rise in the UFC when he faces Derrick Lewis in the heavyweight main event of a UFC Fight Night, set for Sunday morning at the Ibirapuera Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Almeida (19-2) has recorded 14 successive wins in his MMA career, the five most recent coming since his official UFC debut in February 2022. The 32-year-old Brazilian most recently claimed a first-round submission win over highly-regarded heavyweight veteran Jairzinho Rozenstruik in May of this year, pushing him up to ninth place in the division rankings.

“My dream came true. If the world ends today, I die a happy man. And things are only getting better,” said Almeida, who has overcome immense obstacles in his life to become a top MMA fighter.

“I tell people all the time, [heartbreak] happens all the time. It’s part of the sport. You’ll think about giving up, but don’t. You’ll suffer, but don’t quit

Lewis (21-11, 1 NC) is a former heavyweight championship contender who defeated Marcos Rogerio de Lima with a 33-second TKO in July to break a run of three successive losses.

The 38-year-old American, nicknamed ‘The Black Beast’, is hoping to build on the momentum of his last victory: “I just wanted to go out there and show everyone that I still have it. I really haven’t been healthy and I felt like, the best I’ve ever been in my life going into that fight I just had so much energy, I just felt like I could fly, so that’s what I did.”

The rest of the main card features Gabriel Bonfim v Nicolas Dalby in a welterweight co-main event; a heavyweight battle pitting Rodrigo Nascimento against Don’Tale Mayes; middleweight matches in which Caio Borralho and Rodolfo Vieira will face Abus Magomedov and Armen Petrosyan respectively; and a lightweight opener between Ismael Bonfim and Vinc Pichel.

UFC Fight Night: Almeida v Lewis – Fight card

- Main event: Heavyweight: Jailton Almeida v Derrick Lewis

- Welterweight: Gabriel Bonfim v Nicolas Dalby

- Heavyweight: Rodrigo Nascimento v Don’Tale Mayes

- Middleweight: Caio Borralho v Abus Magomedov

- Middleweight: Rodolfo Vieira v Armen Petrosyan

- Lightweight: Ismael Bonfim v Vinc Pichel