Rizvan Kuniev scored a massive upset over Jailton Almeida, the No. 6–ranked heavyweight, at UFC Vegas 113 on Saturday night. While the win should have been a moment of celebration for Rizvan Kuniev, the performance left both Kuniev and fans wanting more.
“Not super excited about the victory because I wasn’t able to show an exciting fight. I’ll give myself about a C,” Kuniev told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
Kuniev (14-3-1) was originally scheduled to face Ryan Spann on Saturday night before his opponent withdrew from the bout. Jailton Almeida stepped in on short notice, accepting the risky matchup and putting his ranking on the line against an unranked heavyweight coming off a loss.
The victory should get Kuniev into the rankings, and he feels he has the perfect spot for himself.
“I’d just move him and I’ll get his number,” he said.
Now, Kuniev is likely to be matched up with another ranked opponent, potentially Waldo Cortes-Acosta, who is riding a three-fight win streak that includes a TKO victory over Derrick Lewis.
“I would be interested to fight him of course, that’d be a good one, but I’m ready for anybody. Anybody the organization gives me, anybody the promotion chose for me, I’ll take them” he said.
“Most importantly I would love to fight with Curtis Blaydes. Reason being is because we have sort of a history between us. He thinks he won the last fight, I think that I might have been winning that last fight. I think that we need another matchup, another fight, to figure out actually who’s better.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Rizvan Kuniev above.
