Top heavyweight contenders are set to collide this summer.
It’s a battle between neighbors in the rankings as #6 Alexander Volkov takes on #7 Jailton Almeida at UFC 302 on June 1. The pay-per-view event is targeted to take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The heavyweight booking was first reported by Super Lutas on Monday.
Russia’s Volkov has hit a mean streak as of late. After losing to interim champion Tom Aspinall, ‘Drago’ bounced back with three-straight finishes over Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexandr Romanov and most recently Tai Tuivasa at UFC 293 in September.
At 35, this is the best Volkov has looked in years and we’ll see if he can keep the career resurgence intact with a win over Almeida.
Almeida is coming off the biggest fight of his career at UFC 299. The rising contender ran into Curtis Blaydes and was beating the standout wrestler at his own game… that is, until he wasn’t. Almeida won the first round but fell to ground and pound as he was going for a takedown against ‘Razor’ Blaydes.
The TKO loss snapped a a 15-fight win streak for Almeida, dropping the Brazilian’s perfect UFC record to 6-1. It’s not much of a setback though as ‘Malhadinho’ fights upwards once more against the higher-ranked Volkov.
With this heavyweight addition, check out how the UFC 302 card is shaping up.
- Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida
- Roman Dolidze vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Joselyne Edwards vs. Ailin Perez
- Mickey Gall vs. Bassil Hafez
- Grant Dawson vs. Joe Solecki
- Michelle Waterson-Gomez vs. Gillian Robertson
Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida is your striker vs. grappler matchup, which begs the question: what style will prevail at UFC 302?
