Dana White’s Contender Series veteran Jailton Almeida turned a lot of heads in his UFC debut in February, and hopes to keep the train rolling in a different weight class this Saturday.
Entering his second fight under the UFC banner, Almeida (15-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will be moving up from light heavyweight to meet heavyweight Parker Porter on the prelims at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. From a weight-cutting standpoint, Almeida is already enjoying the lead up to this fight against Porter (13-6 MMA, 3-1 UFC).
“Just not having to cut the weight and not even worry about weight is a big thing,” Almeida told reporters through an interpreter at UFC Fight Night 206 media day. “I’m a lot happier, my self-esteem is way up there, and I’m sleeping well. So, there’s a bunch of factors that are very good with not having to cut weight.