Thomas Almeida feels John Dodson should get a warm up fight for his return to the bantamweight divison, wants to fight big names in 2016 and remain undefeated.
Challenged by John Dodson, who returns to the bantamweight division after seven fights at flyweight, Thomas Almeida doesn’t see a need to take on a returning opponent. The undefeated prospect believes Dodson should fight someone else before he challenges him, but if the UFC asks him to take the bout, he will gladly comply.
“I don’t choose fights. I’ll fight anybody.” Almeida told Globo Esporte. “Because Dodson is returning to the bantamweight division, I think he should get a fight to reestablish himself in the weight class first, so then we could fight. I see no need for us to fight now. However, if Dana White thinks it’s interesting and wants us to fight, of course I’ll do it.”
Only 24 years old but with 20 wins under his belt, Almeida says he wants all the big fights he can get in 2016.
“This year I want to win as many fights as possible and remain undefeated. I want to get more experience in the UFC and fight the best fighters. I wanted to fight in March, but I got no answer. I’ve been training since the end of last year and I’m ready to go. I’m pressuring them, but I have no confirmations yet. My idea was to fight Bryan Caraway or Urijah Faber because they are two of the best guys and I want challenges.”
In Thomas Almeida’s last outing, he knocked out Anthony Birchak in the opening round, which improved his UFC run to 4-0, with three “Performance of The Night” knockouts.