Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight Jailton Almeida is prepared to deliver a feel-good moment in the sport at the end of January.
Almeida is set to return to action on March 9 in Miami against Curtis Blaydes, during the main card of UFC 299. Before then, “Malhadinho” will enter into exhibition, charity match against Alvaro Borges, a fighter with Down syndrome, on Jan. 27. He and Borges will compete at the Bahia Boxing and Martial Arts Training Center—also called the Centro de Treinamento de Boxe e Artes Marciais da Bahia—in Salvador, Brazil. This matchup, along with the other fights on the Demo Fight 18 billing, were announced by the league on Instagram.
“We know that sport is one of the biggest weapons of social inclusion we have,” the promotion wrote [via Google Translate]. “Thinking about it, we decided to present an exhibition fight with the 2023 MMA revelation athlete Jailton 'Malhadinho' [UFC] and athlete Alvaro Borges with Down Syndrome. We are sure going to be a great show!”
This will not be the first appearance in the cage for Borges, as he debuted at Demo Fight 17 against fellow neophyte Pablo Passos in a lightweight exhibition contest. At the 2:11 mark, Borges hit an armbar that forced Passos to tap, much to the jubilation of the crowd and Borges himself. “Alvinho” will be significantly moving up in both weight and level of competition for this exhibition affair.
Almeida joins fellow UFC fighters Diego Sanchez and Nate Quarry, both of whom took charity exhibition matches against men with Down syndrome. Sanchez took on “The Shermanator” Isaac Marquez, while Quarry came out of retirement to face Jake Beckmann. Both Marquez and Beckmann submitted the top UFC talents in a pair of uplifting moments.
When he returns to professional competition, Almeida will be putting his 15-fight, five-plus-year win streak on the line. Having prevailed in all six appearances inside the Octagon, the heavyweight contender is coming off a dominant decision win over Derrick Lewis in November, which served as the first decision victory in his career. Interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall has expressed interest in defending his strap against the winner of the March clash between Almeida and Blaydes, with heavyweight champion Jon Jones on the mend after suffering a shoulder injury.
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