UFC Sao Paulo’s main event featured a crucial heavyweight bout between two of the division’s top contenders. #10 ranked Derrick Lewis looks to build off his success in his last fight and get back to his winning ways. #9 ranked Jailton Almeida looked to grab the biggest win of his career over a former title challenger and his 6th straight since joining the promotion.
Fight Recap
The fight was extremely underwhelming compared to its expectations, going all 25 minutes. The pair combined for a measly 58 significant strikes throughout the 5 rounds with Almeida landing 6 takedowns. Almeida set a UFC record for the most control time in a single fight, with a whopping 21:10 of control time over 25 minutes. The Brazilian laid in mount for most of the fight and attempted many submissions, all of which were defended by Lewis. He was given multiple warnings by referee Marc Goddard about inactivity while in mount, an unusual circumstance in the sport.
The performance was enough to secure a clean sweep on all 3 scorecards, but might not be enough for a top contender. Almeida called out #1 ranked Ciryl Gane after the fight, so it’s clear he’s looking to make that next step. However, that seems unlikely as many seem displeased with the performance.
Despite the dominant performance, many were disappointed in the result and felt that Almeida should’ve been able to finish Lewis, who is known to have a weak ground game. UFC fighters reacted to the disappointing result on X:
UFC Fighters React to Jailton Almeida Struggling to Finish Derrick Lewis
What did you think about Jailton Almeida’s performance? Did his stock go up or down? Let us know in the comments below.
Featured Image Credit to Embed from Getty Images
