Jailton Almeida back on the winning track, submits Alexander Romanov early at UFC 302
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, June 1, 2024, for UFC 302, going down live from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Headlining the event is a lightweight championship affair showcasing no. 1 pound-for-pound ranked Islam Makhachev (25-1), who attempts to make the third defense of his title tonight opposing no. 4 ranked former interim champion Dustin Poirier (30-8) in the main event of the evening.
Co-headlining the event is a middleweight bout between no. 1 ranked former champion Sean Strickland (28-6) and no. 7 ranked former title challenger Paulo Costa (14-3).
Our preliminary co-main event came in the heavyweight division between no. 7 ranked Jailton Almeida (21-3) and no. 13 ranked Alexander Romanov (17-3).
Following stoppage victories in his first six-straight octagon appearances from February of 2022 to November of 2023, Almeida came into the bout off the first defeat of his promotional tenure to no. 4 ranked Curtis Blaydes earlier this year in March.
Romanov on the other hand, following victory in his first five straight UFC outings, would suffer back-to-back defeats in 2022 and 2023. He had since rebounded with a win over former WSOF and PFL heavyweight champion Blagoy Ivanov last July.
Continue reading to see how this heavyweight encounter went down:
Official Result: Jailton Almeida def. Alexander Romanov via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:27 of round one
Almeida secured an early single leg takedown and immediately showed off his heavy pressure from top position, soon after taking Romanov’s back. He attempted a neck crank about two minutes in, which Romanov was able to hand fight his way out of.
Almeida was then able to get his arm under the neck as Romanov was working his way back to the fence, securing the tap midway through the opening round.
JAILTON ALMEIDA ENDS IT EARLY OVER ROMANOV & WE FINALLY GET A FINISH #UFC302 pic.twitter.com/PO84V6MDzI
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) June 2, 2024
After an incredible 6-0 start to begin his UFC career with five finishes, Almeida had a great start to his fight with Curtis Blaydes at UFC 299, securing nine takedowns in the opening round, absolutely ragdolling the most prolific takedown artist in UFC history before getting knocked out searching for another takedown at the start of the second. Almeida got back to his winning ways in a big way tonight with an incredibly impressive win over a very solid, big talent in the heavyweight division.
Jailton Almeida now has 20 finishes in 21 career victories, 13 via submission and seven via knockout.
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