Las Vegas — Heavyweight Rizvan Kuniev enters UFC Vegas 113 with a new, short-notice opponent in Jailton Almeida.
“I’m ready, I’m locked and loaded, and I’m waiting for the fight,” Kuniev (13-3-1, 1NC) told media outlets including Cageside Press on Wednesday, ahead of the promotion’s first Fight Night on Paramount+.
Kuniev was originally slated to face off with Ryan Spann, an unranked, former light heavyweight. Instead, he gets Almeida, who sits well inside the top ten. A different style of fighter, but the upside outweighs an tactical changes.
“To be honest it doesn’t matter to me, because I work on all aspects of the game. I concentrate on my own training,” the Russian said on the stylistic change. Kuniev noted that he works with grapplers, wrestlers, and strikers. “In fact I’m actually very happy that I got this opportunity, obviously to fight somebody who’s ranked number six is a huge opportunity for me. So I’m excited and I’m ready for all aspects.”
Kuniev has been frustrated with his lack of activity in the UFC thus far. After his second Contender Series win, he stated that he was willing to fight every week if he had to. “I saw Dana White right here in the Apex, and I told him ‘look, just put me in any time. The next event, put me on the next event, I’m happy to fight on the next event.’ I always wanted to stay active. And then somehow it just happened that, it’s just constantly whenever I get an opportunity, something happens. Either they get injured, they pull out, something else happens.”
The heavyweight even moved to America for a year, training at American Top Team in Florida. “I was here in America for a whole year trying to get a fight, and constantly something would happen and the fight would not happen. I was here, waiting, nothing happened. Eventually I ended up fighting against Curtis [Blaydes] next to my home. Even though I’ve been in America the whole time, I ended up fighting in Baku.”
This time around, Kuniev has been in America since September, again waiting for a fight. “I want to be active,” he stated. “I’ve always said that I’m an active fighter, I want to be active all the time.” Kuniev wants the kind of schedule that Waldo Cortes-Acosta has. “He fights like every couple months. I want to be like that. I don’t know why I don’t get those type of opportunities, but I’m ready for them.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 113 media day appearance by Rizvan Kuniev above.
