UFC 279: Jailton Almeida is the fighter to watch

Jailton Almeida is the fighter to watch at UFC 279.

On Saturday, UFC 279 will be taking place live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The show will be headlined by a massive welterweight battle between Khamzat Chimaev, and Nate Diaz which will surely not disappoint. However, another big fight will be taking place and it will be a catchweight division fight. This fight features a light heavyweight star in the making, Jailton Almeida taking on Anton Turkalj.

This is one of the more underrated fights on the card that will have a lot of eyes on it. Almeida, who is currently unranked in the light heavyweight division, last fought in May 2022 where he defeated Parker Porter by submission. Almeida was able to lock in his rear-naked choke onto Porter to force him to tap out.

Although Almeida’s style is more boxing, he has a lethal submission arsenal where he can be just as dangerous down on the mat. In his last 11 fights, six of the finishes came via submission. Coming into his upcoming fight with Turkalj, he can make a name for himself against someone making their UFC debut.

Almeida looks to continue his hot streak on Saturday by defeating Turkalj

Almeida’s last loss came in late January 2018 to Bruno Assis by unanimous decision. Since then, he has gone 11-0 defeating anyone who has been put in front of him. His overall MMA record is 16-2-0 and he will look to improve his streak on Saturday and bump his overall record to 17-2-0.

Although he’s currently unranked, Almeida is not someone to be taken lightly by any means. He is an up-and-coming fighter who with a win could further solidify his name in the UFC and even potentially get on a ranking system one day sooner than later if he continues his winning ways.

UFC 279 takes place on Saturday, Sept. 10, live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Follow along with FanSided MMA for all your live updates and highlights.