Rising UFC heavyweight star Jailton Almeida responds to the criticism faced after his potentially ‘cautious’ performance against fan favorite Derrick Lewis.
The UFC has a new rising star on there hands as Jailton Almeida has taken the division by storm. With a six fight winning streak and many fights up for grabs, the spectacular prospect could very well find himself in the very top of the division in the next year. However, many fans recently might not want to see that happen as they have taken to criticising his recent performance against Derrick Lewis.
This has all come from Jailton Almeida’s game plan against the power house Derek Lewis. It isn’t smart to get into the brawl with the fighter with the most knockouts in the UFC so Almeida adopted a plan centered around his phenomenal grappling. Derrick Lewis found himself on the wrong end of a grappling masterclass that saw Jailton Almeida rack up 21 minutes of control time in a five round fight. While many fans were incredibly impressed by the absolute domination, many fans did not like the fight plan as it did not provide the usual Derrick Lewis scrap.
This lead to Jailton Almeida speaking out about the recent criticism he has faced.
Jailton Almeida Speaks Out About Derrick Lewis Fight
Jailton Almeida responded to his criticism from fans in his post fight interview after his scrap with Derek Lewis. He said; ‘It was a tough fight. I was surprised that he never backed down. Derrick fought all the way. Although he fought last minute, he really put on a good fight. But I managed a good fight.’
He continued; ‘I was happy with my performance, even though I didn’t knock him out, I’m ready for any fights. I’m ready to fight five rounds for any opponent. The strategy was to control him on grappling. But he’s very strong, and his twice as big as mine. My forearm is quite thin, and he was able to grab hold my forearm and really control the blows that I was trying to give out.’
‘I was surprised by my strength. Although Derrick Lewis was much heavier than me, I was able to throw him down and control. So I’m very happy with that.’
Quotes via bjpenn.com
The heavyweight division was in limbo when Jon Jones pulled out with his title fight with Stipe Miocic, but now with Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich agreeing to fight and with Jailton Almeida on the rise, the heavyweight division is surely getting exciting. Do you think Jailton Almeida will be heavyweight champion? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
