UFC 302 has a new heavyweight matchup that’s been added to the card. Jailton Almeida (20-3) will be looking to bounce back as he’ll take on fellow dominant grappler and fellow ranked heavyweight contender Alexandr Romanov (17-2). AG Fight on X was the first to report the booking.
This is a huge spot for Romanov who will be looking to pickup his second straight win. Whenever Romanov made his UFC debut, he was a perfect 11-0. Then he started out incredibly strong winning his first five fights inside the octagon with only one fight going to a decision.
However, then he had a terrible fight with Marcin Tybura. After he dominated Tybura early, he completely gassed over the final two rounds and lost a majority decision. He returned a few months later and was stopped by Alexander Volkov. Having all momentum gone, he was able to right the ship a little with a decision win over Blagoy Ivanov last July. Now, he gets a big opportunity at UFC 302.
UFC 302
UFC 302 on June 1st goes down in Newark, N.J. Jailton Almeida originally had a different opponent for this card. Almeida was supposed to take on Alexander Volkov and that was the agreed fight. However, the UFC scrapped that when they decided to put Volkov in there against fellow Russian Sergei Pavlovich on the Saudi Arabia card.
With that, Almeida needed a new opponent and the promotion landed on Romanov. Almeida will be looking to bounce back after he suffered his first loss inside the octagon just a couple of weeks ago. Almeida faced off against Curtis Blaydes and he looked dominant with his grappling in the first round.
However, he was desperate to get a takedown in the second round and he left his head exposed. Blaydes took full advantage raining down a barrage of elbows that ended the fight. The loss snapped a 15-fight win streak for Almeida and dropped him to 6-1 in the UFC.