ABU DHABI – Jailton Almeida doesn’t believe Alex Pereira moving to heavyweight would impact his UFC title hopes.
Almeida (22-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) takes on Alexander Volkov (38-11 MMA, 12-5 UFC) in a potential No. 1 contender bout on Saturday’s UFC 321 (ESPN+ pay-per-view, FX/Disney+/ESPN+) main card at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Almeida and other top contenders were left in a quandary when the title-unification bout between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall never materialized. However, Almeida is confident that UFC light heavyweight champion Pereira is only after Jones and not the belt.
“I think the talk about him and Jon Jones is great. A superfight between the two would be a fantastic thing for them, for us as fans, and for the UFC,” Almeida told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at Wednesday’s media day. “But the division has been in such turmoil the last few months, like let him do a superfight. If he eventually wants to come to the division, fine, but I think he’s more looking towards something big like that superfight and not necessarily being part of the division.”
Almeida’s opponent, Volkov, is coming off a controversial decision loss to Ciryl Gane, who challenges Aspinall for the heavyweight title in the UFC 321 headliner.
The Brazilian said he thinks Volkov won that fight and looks at him in high regard entering their important showdown.
“I know that it’s a different thing to watch a fight judging it than watching it just as a casual fan or just as someone who likes fights, but after watching the fight, I really thought that Volkov won,” Almeida said. “But at the end of the day, the judges are there to do their job. I’m not a judge, so it is what it is and if Dana (White) said that he won, then I don’t think anyone is going to question him, but still the result is in the judges’ hands.”
