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 the morning of Sunday 5 November 2023 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