Preview: UFC Fight Night 231 'Almeida vs. Lewis'

2023 has seen the Ultimate Fighting Championship finally add Brazil back to its travel schedule, and the promotion's return to Sao Paulo comes with a deep card. The main event, pitting rising heavyweight prospect Jailton Almeida against knockout king Derrick Lewis, clearly has the highest stakes of the bunch, but there's a ton of high-upside Brazilian talent dotting the rest of this card. That's led by the co-main, which sees Gabriel Bonfim look to continue his string of electric performances with a win over welterweight stalwart Nicolas Dalby, and a middleweight bout that sees rankings-ready prospect Caio Borralho meet recent headliner Abusupiyan Magomedov. Rodolfo Vieira's bout against Armen Petrosyan also serves as a highlight in a clear grappler-versus-striker chess match.

Heavyweights

Jailton Almeida (19-2) vs. Derrick Lewis (27-11, 1 N/C)

Odds: Almeida (-485), Lewis (+370)

Almeida is part of the fresh wave of talent making a rise up the UFC's heavyweight division, and it's amusing that this all came on a bit of a lark. Almeida came to the UFC in 2021 through Dana White's Contender Series and immediately stood out as a light heavyweight prospect to watch; "Malhadinho" had a game that was simple but effective, immediately looking to score a takedown and a finish while often succeeding in impressive fashion. After a successful UFC debut, some opponent changes forced Almeida to take what figured to be a one-off trip up to heavyweight for a late-notice booking against Parker Porter - but after that fight went much the same as Almeida's light heavyweight career, the Brazilian made the call to stay up a division and keep running through opposition. 2023 has seen Almeida crash the heavyweight rankings without much difficulty; his win over Shamil Abdurakhimov made it to the second round but was still one-sided, and his main event victory over Jairzinho Rozenstruik in May felt even quicker than its sub-four-minute fight time. There just aren't many heavyweights that can compete with Almeida's wrestling, which made the initial booking here of Almeida against Curtis Blaydes quite interesting; but with Blaydes injured, Almeida gets the most dangerous version yet of his typical test, this time against Lewis.

The UFC's all-time knockout leader, Lewis has a big chance to regain some of the momentum he's lost in previous years. Lewis made some waves as a charismatic knockout artist immediately upon his UFC debut in 2014, but some one-sided losses led to the worry that "The Black Beast" might be a flash in the pan. Instead, he put together nine wins in 10 outings to earn a heavyweight title shot in 2018, capped by a victory over Alexander Volkov that showed all the positives of the Lewis experience. The fight itself showed off the philosophy shift that led Lewis to find his career-best success; rather than hunt for the knockout and put himself at risk of getting finished, Lewis learned to lay back and wait for opportunities to present themselves. Lewis is explosive enough to eventually find one huge opening against heavyweight opponents on the feet, and wrestling him hasn't been much of a viable strategy outside of the heavyweight elite, as most opponents just wind up gassing themselves while trying to control a man of Lewis's size. In the Volkov fight, the Russian seemed to be cruising to a win until the point that Lewis staged a massive comeback for a third-round knockout, and then Lewis showed off the type of crass charisma that made him a star, taking off his trunks in victory and proclaiming that his "balls was hot." Lewis was easily turned back by then-champion Daniel Cormier, but he rebounded well enough until a similarly one-sided loss to Ciryl Gane in 2021, after which he seemed to regress a bit; Lewis's last few performances have seen him try to press things for a knockout once more, which has resulted in a lot of quick losses in relatively even slugfests. But Lewis at least comes into this fight riding high thanks to his July win over Marcos Rogerio de Lima; Lewis immediately landed a flying knee that could have ended the fight but poured on damage for a bit longer to earn the stoppage in just 33 seconds. That type of danger is still readily apparent for Almeida in this matchup, but Lewis also came into the de Lima fight coming off a loss to Sergey Spivak, who was able to score a takedown and tap Lewis in short order. So while the opening moments of the fight could be tense, this looks like a fight that should essentially be over once Almeida gets it to the mat, which might not take long; the pick is Almeida via first-round submission.

Jump To »
Almeida vs. Lewis
Bonfim vs. Dalby
Nascimento vs. Mayes
Borralho vs. Magomedov
Vieira vs. Petrosyan
Bonfim vs. Pichel
The Prelims