UFC 302 is shaping as much as be an thrilling evening of fights, with the matchmakers having already added six bouts to the lineup. UFC 302 is to go down on June 1, 2024, dwell from Prudential Heart in Newark, New Jersey.
The newest addition to the lineup comes within the heavyweight division between no. 6 ranked former Bellator and M-1 World heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov (37-10) and no. 7 former TFL heavyweight and FON light-heavyweight champion Jailton Almeida (20-3).
Almeida is coming off the primary defeat of his promotional tenure; after securing 9 takedowns on no. 5 ranked Curtis Blaydes at UFC 299, all 9 of which got here contained in the opening 5 minutes of the competition, he was caught with a collection of elbows when he shot in on one other takedown within the second, being stopped 36 seconds into the spherical.
Blaydes is essentially the most prolific takedown artist in heavyweight historical past, and Almeida completely ragdolled him up till he was stopped. Previous to that Almeida had gone 6-0 contained in the promotion with 5 finishes. Actually, he went in on a 15-fight win streak, hadn’t misplaced since 2018, and of his 20 profession wins, 19 come through end with seven knockouts and 12 submissions.
Volkov then again, following a 4-0 run to start his UFC profession, would go 4-4 over his subsequent eight, starting with a knockout defeat to Derrick Lewis within the remaining 15 seconds of a battle he was dominating. The one different three to beat him contained in the octagon are Curtis Blaydes (UD), and a pair of interim champions in Ciryl Gane (UD) and Tom Aspinall (armbar).
Since dropping a defeat to Aspinall, Volkov has gone 3-0 with wins over the likes of Jairzinho Rozenstruik (TKO), the place he stopped the 76-8 skilled kickboxer, Alexandr Romanov (TKO), and Tai Tuivasa (Ezekiel choke). He additionally boasts promotional wins over Alistair Overeem (TKO), one other world champion kickboxer he stopped on the toes, and Marcin Tybura (UD), who got here in on a five-fight win streak and has now gone 8-2 over his final 10.
That is going to be an fascinating distinction of kinds.
Does Volkov cease Almeida together with his superior placing and hand the Brazilian his second-straight loss, or does Almeida get Volkov down and submit him like Tom Aspinall did?
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