Heavyweight Jailton Almeida entered his first main event in the UFC on Saturday, taking on Jairzinho Rozenstruik to cap off the night at UFC Charlotte.
The ABC card had the potential to draw plenty of eyeballs for the promotion, and its main event was a striker vs. grappler match-up. The going logic: Jailton would shoot early, and shoot often, as he had throughout his picture perfect UFC run thus far.
As expected, Almeida immediately shot in on a takedown — and was immediately turned back by “Bigi Boy” Rozenstruik, who had lived up to his name, weighing in at 265 pounds on Friday. He could not stuff Almeida’s second attempt, however, with the Surinamese heavyweight planted on his back inside of a minute regardless.
Almeida found himself in half-guard, with Rozenstruik trying to tie his opponent up from bottom while inching ever so slowly to the fence. Almeida attempted to pull his leg through to make it to mount, but for the time being, Rozenstruik had the leg locked down.
Finally having reached the fence, Rozenstruik ate a knee, but managed to avoid damage for the most part. But when Almeida moved to mount, Rozenstruik gave up his back! That gave Jailton Almeida all the opening he needed. He got an arm under the neck, locking up the rear-naked choke and forcing the tap!
MALHADINHO GETS IT DONE IN ROUND 1!!!!!! @Malhadinho_UFC | #UFCCharlotte pic.twitter.com/1rRGrDwhek
— UFC (@ufc) May 13, 2023
The victory might just see Almeida crack the top 10 in the UFC’s heavyweight division, and should set up another big fight for the Brazilian down the line.
Official Result: Jailton Almeida def. Jairzinho Rozenstruik by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 3:43
