Jailton Almeida Targets Showdown with Ex-Title Challenger Ciryl Gane

Jailton Almeida called out heavyweight contender Ciryl Gane after a lopsided decision win over Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 231 on Saturday.

Almeida (20-2) was a heavy favorite going into his headlining clash against the feared knockout artist in the UFC’s return to Sao Paulo, Brazil after four years. Unsurprisingly, “Malhadinho” used a grappling-heavy approach to completely nullify Lewis’ (27-12) offense, notching a new heavyweight control time record of over 21 minutes.

However, Almeida’s performance raised certain concerns in the commentary booth, particularly for Michael Bisping. Bisping and Brendan Fitzgerald felt Almeida could have looked harder for a finish, with the referee having to call for activity in a thoroughly lopsided fight. Meanwhile, Dominick Cruz repeatedly gave credit to Almeida’s composure and for not risking giving away any positions against Lewis.

Almeida himself felt he had put on a show. However, he also claims to have not really felt Lewis’ power despite being tagged on a couple of occasions, which many believed was the reason behind the lack of activity. Almeida proceeded to call out French contender Gane in his post-fight Octagon interview.

“He wanted a brawl, and I said it was gonna be a show, so did I give you guys the show or what? ... We knew that he has a heavy hand,” Almeida said. “We had 15 to 20 days to come up with a strategy for this fight. And we were able to do that and keep him down and avoid his right hand. I was touched and I didn’t really feel it… And I’m gonna call out a name here, I want Ciryl Gane. I will fight in Paris, we can do it in Salvador, wherever. I’m ready, let’s do it Ciryl Gane.”

Lewis stepped up on short notice to replace grappling ace Curtis Blaydes, which would have been an entirely different stylistic matchup for Almeida. “Malhadinho” is currently undefeated in six UFC outings with all of his previous wins coming via stoppage.

As for “Bon Gamin,” the Frenchman is coming off a Round 2 TKO victory against Sergey Spivak back in September and is currently 2-2 in his last four outings.