Surging heavyweight grappling talent, Jailton Almeida is closing as a significant betting favorite to land a victory over former interim and undisputed heavyweight title challenger, Derrick Lewis, ahead of this weekend’s reworked UFC Fight Night Sao Paulo main event clash in Brazil.
Almeida, the current number nine ranked heavyweight contender and a product of Dana White’s Contender Series draws former title challenger, Lewis in a reworked pairing, after initial opponent, would-be common-foe, Curtis Blaydes suffered an injury whilst preparing for the clash.
As for Lewis, the fan-favorite promotional and heavyweight division knockout king turned in his first victory in three fights earlier this year on the main card of UFC 291 in July, dropping and stopping Jailton Almeida’s compatriot, Marcos Rogerio de Lima with a stunning flying-knee and follow-up strikes knockout in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Jailton Almeida betting favorite to beat Derrick Lewis this weekend
And set to take main event honors for the second bout running, Bahia native, Almeida is closing as high as a -450 betting favorite on many markers to defeat Lewis – with the former championship challenger sat as an underdog as high as +333.
Many markets and bookies – offering free spins no deposit betting, are also still taking bets and wagers on this weekend’s UFC Fight Night Sao Paulo return, including a massive heavyweight fight between Almeida and Lewis.
5-0 since his move from the Contender Series back in 2021, the above-mentioned submission threat, Almeida makes his sophomore main event clash at UFC Fight Night Sao Paulo this weekend in South America, following a stunning first round rear-naked choke submission win over Suriname kickboxer, Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC Fight Night Charlotte back in May – earning a Performance of the Night bonus.
Back in Janaury of this year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Almeida stopped common-foe, Shamil Abdurakhimov with a one-sided knockout win via second round ground strikes. With his win over the above-mentioned, Rozenstruik, Almeida improved to 19-2 as a professional to boot.
Previously challenging for both undisputed and interim heavyweight gold against Daniel Cormier, and Ciryl Gane, respectively during his lengthy Octagon run, Lewis holds a stunning 22 separate career knockout victories.
Over the course of his storied run in the heavyweight division, Lewis, 38, landed stunning wins over the likes of Gabriel Gonzaga, Travis Browne, Alexander Volkov, Curtis Blaydes, and Chris Daukaus – before his July knockout of de Lima extended his knockout record in the entire UFC to 14 stoppages via strikes.
Furthermore, Lewis became the first fighter in the Octagon to land a victory over eventual undisputed UFC heavyweight champion and recent professional boxing debutante, Francis Ngannou, albeit in a hugely forgettable monstrous heavyweight clash back in 2018.
Yet to go the distance over the course of his winning run, Almeida has landed a whopping 12 separate submission wins, to go with a further seven victories by way of knockout or technical knockout.
In each of his five triumphs inside the Octagon to boot, Almeida, who closed as a betting underdog in his Contender Series win – has closed as a betting favorite in each of his wins under the UFC banner.
Who wins at UFC Sao Paulo: Jailton Almeida or Derrick Lewis?