Heavyweight contender Jailton Almeida has a three-fight plan leading to gold in 2025, starting with a victory this weekend at UFC 311.
While all eyes will be on the two championship fights at bantamweight and lightweight that will headline proceedings, Saturday's pay-per-view event at Inglewood's Intuit Dome isn't short on intriguing undercard contests.
One set for the preliminary portion of the UFC 311 lineup will see Almeida return for his first assignment of the new year. After bouncing back form his first UFC defeat with a dominant submission win over Alexandr Romanov last time out, the #6-ranked contender is next tasked with defending his position against the charging Serghei Spivac.
While he's not underestimating his Moldovan opponent, who most recently beat Marcin Tybura in a UFC Fight Night main event, "Malhadinho" isn't afraid of looking beyond Jan. 18.
During a recent UFC 311 fight week interview with E. Spencer Kyte for UFC.com, Almeida outlined what he envisions for the rest of the new year, with his plans culminating in a championship showdown with either Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall.
I plan on having three fights this year," Almeida said. "My main goal is Spivac now, then after that, a title eliminator against Ciryl Gane, and at the end of the year, facing the winner of Jon Jones versus Aspinall for the UFC heavyweight title.
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Ciryl Gane remains without a fight date in the calendar after his controversial decision win over Alexander Volkov last month at UFC 310. Given Dana White's thoughts on the matter, it remains to be seen whether the Frenchman has earned the title eliminator Almeida hopes to face him in this year.
Meanwhile, a clash between Jones and Aspinall also seems far from certain. Though the UFC CEO 'guaranteed' that another outing for "Bones" would come against the interim titleholder, the Rochester native is yet to fully commit to the continuation of his career following his win over Stipe Miocic last November.