After being released from the UFC, Ildemar Alcantara suffered a major downward spiral in his career.
He was let go in 2015 after dropping a unanimous decision to Kevin Casey, then went on to lose another four fights in a row. According to Alcantara, this was due to numerous reasons, such as a change in weight class and a back injury, which resulted in a string of bad luck for the Brazilian.
“After my UFC tenure, I took a fight by moving up to light heavyweight,” Alcantara told MMA Junkie. “But I wasn’t adapted to the weight class. My normal weight is around 214 pounds. After my training camp, I ended up fighting at just 200 pounds. In that fight, I broke my hand. For a fighter, a hand break is very difficult to heal from. I also lost the following three bouts. I was fighting with a bad hand. But thankfully, today I’m at 100 percent.”
“Today I feel I’m in the best physical shape of my entire career. My focus today is even greater than when I fought in the UFC. I have dreams. And nothing happens if you don’t run after your dreams. I plan to continue my winning streak.”
Alcantara (26-13 MMA) snapped his five-fight losing skid and really turned things around, going 5-1 since. He has won four in a row as he heads into his ARES FC 1 main event fight vs. Laurynas Urbonavicius (12-1 MMA).
He competed five times in 2018, but will be making his first appearance in 2019, when he takes on Urbonavicius on Dec. 14, an event from Dakar, Senegal, which will stream on UFC Fight Pass.
And his main goal moving forward is to stay active.
“I signed a four-fight contract with ARES,” Alcantara said. “We’ll see how things play out after this bout. I’d love to be back in action by February or March. I want to remain active, since I’m not that young anymore. I’m hoping the promotion calls me up as often as possible.”
He takes on Lithuania’s Urbonavicius, who has won his last six in a row, and has been preparing for his fight at Marajo Brothers academy in Brazil, with the likes of UFC middleweight Antonio Arroyo.
“Laurynas is a tough fighter, with a great record,” Alcantara said. “My new manager asked if I would take this fight at 205 pounds, since I usually fight at middleweight. I immediately accepted. I train from Sunday to Sunday, so I’m ready at any moment. In 2019, for some reason, I had a difficult time finding opponents at middleweight, both in and outside of Brazil. ARES is a new promotion and I’m honored to be chosen to be on the main event.”
“Laurynas has great grappling, as well as ground-and-pound skills. We’ve studied him, with the goal of nullifying his game. He’s a patient fighter. I’m going use my experience to find the path to victory.”
Alcantara has experienced ups and downs since his departure from the UFC, and while his ultimate goal isn’t necessarily to get the call back, he wouldn’t be opposed to it.
“I’m happy for the time I spent in the UFC,” Alcantara said. “Today, my main focus is not to go back there, but just to remain active. If they call me back, it will be the consequence of the work I’ve been putting in every day, and of my in-cage performances.”
Ex-UFC fighter Ildemar Alcantara's main goal with new promotion ARES FC is to remain active
