UFC Vegas 113 on February 7th will be the first Apex card in the Paramount era and today, we learned of a heavyweight matchup that’ll go down on the card. Leo Guimaraes on X first reported that top heavyweight contender Jailton Almeida (22-4) will be stepping in on short-notice to take on Rizvan Kuniev (13-3-1).
Originally, Kuniev was set to face Ryan Spann on the card. However, when Spann had to pull out of the fight, the UFC turned to Jailton Almeida who was willing to take the fight. It was also reported that Almeida agreed to a new contract that begins with this fight against Kuniev.
Starting with Almeida, he’s coming off a very disappointing loss to Alexander Volkov back in October. In the fight, Almeida had success with his wrestling, but he literally did nothing with his top control in the fight. With him doing virtually nothing, he lost a round where he largely controlled Volkov due to his inactivity losing him the fight.
That loss snapped a two-fight finish streak for Almeida and likely cost him a shot at the UFC heavyweight title. Now, he’s trying to get back in the good graces of the promotion by taking on Kuniev.
Kuniev earned a contract after winning on The Contender Series at the end of 2024. He made his octagon debut back in June against former interim title challenger Curtis Blaydes.
He lost by split decision and while he’s 0-1 inside the octagon, many believe that he’s a top ten heavyweight in the promotion and now he’s getting his second top ten contender.
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