The light heavyweight division has itself a new name to watch.
Top Brazilian prospect Jailton Almeida (15-2) made short work of Danilo Marques (11-4) in his octagon debut at UFC Vegas 47, needing a little under three minutes to ground Marques and pound him out for a TKO victory.
Watch Almeida’s impressive finish above.
Afterwards, Almeida respectfully called out legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Shogun is a close friend and teammate of Marques.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion may want to think twice about stepping into the cage with Almeida after the newcomer’s brilliant performance on Saturday. Almeida quickly used his highly vaunted wrestling to take Marques down and alternated between dropping powerful strikes from up top and threatening with a choke as Marques was put squarely on the defensive.
Eventually, referee Mike Beltran stepped in to call the contest when it was clear that Marques was unable to escape the position. The official time of the stoppage came at 2:57 of Round 1.
Almeida, a recent Contender Series signing, won his 10th straight fight. All 15 of his pro victories have come by way of knockout or submission. In an interview with MMA Fighting in February 2021, Almeida compared his own fighting style to that of undefeated former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“It’s a different game, Khabib-style. No one can stop that game,” Almeida said. “I’m very versatile, I can trade on the feet and take you down. I watch a lot of videos of Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and try to do his game as much as possible. It’s an aggressive style, takedowns and submissions or ground-and-pound finish. Khabib is a reference for me.”
Marques has now lost two straight fights. His UFC record drops to 2-2.
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