Fighter on Fighter: Breaking Down ‘Malhadinho!’

Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Jailton Almeida, will face the vicious striker, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, this Saturday (May 13, 2023) at UFC Charlotte inside Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Just a couple weeks ago, Sergei Pavlovich scored his first main event slot and brutalized Curtis Blaydes to continue his first-round knockout streak. Despite the step up in competition, Pavlovich didn’t have to reveal anything new about himself or his MMA game to secure a title shot.

There are some parallels here with “Malhadinho.” The grappler has flawlessly employed the exact same game plan in every fight — to be discussed momentarily — but there remain massive questions about the rest of his skills. Is Rozenstruik the opponent that forces him to do something different?

It doesn’t seem likely, win or lose. Let’s take a closer look at the Brazilian’s skill set:

Striking

Almeida’s kickboxing has become something of a running joke online. Not because it’s terrible — we really have no idea one way or another — but because each of his four UFC fights have started so similarly. In three of four, he’s snapped a front kick up high then immediately dived forward on the double leg shot.

In the fourth, he threw a low kick then shot.

Safe to say, Almeida hasn’t shown us much on the feet just yet. His kicks are snappy and powerful, and he’s shown the left hook on a few occasions. Seeing as he’s on a 14-fight win streak dating back to January 2018 that consists mostly of submissions, his regional fights haven’t been terribly revealing either.

Wrestling

Almeida may have plenty of experience at 205-pounds, but the man is incredibly strong even at Heavyweight.

All Almeida fights begin with his double leg shot, which is an equal mix of ugly and athletic (GIF). In this regard, he’s actually very reminiscent of Ronaldo Souza. Like “Jacare,” Almeida bends over at the waist and dives at his opponents legs, which is bad form. However, he’s fast and strong enough that he can guarantee a decent grip on the legs even if met with a sprawl.

If Almeida doesn’t just run his opponent over — and he often does — he’s able to get back into good wrestling form quickly. He doesn’t stay on his knees for too long, as he’ll start getting his legs back beneath him as soon as his hands are locked. From there, his chest will come up as he drives into his opponent, allowing him to step across the body and usually finish the shot.

One point of concern regarding this style of shot is how well it holds up as Almeida fatigues, which hasn’t been an issue … yet.

Fortunately, Almeida has a nice range of wrestling technique once actually in on the body. If his opponent pulls him up into the clinch, Almeida does a really nice job of working his head towards the outside. This allows him to maintain a good angle rather than be directly in front of his opponent. From the side, he can lift and slam with the body lock, or he’ll look to cut around towards the back clinch.

“Malhadinho” is very skilled from the back clinch. His classic lift and return is powerful, but he’ll also start looked to put in hooks standing. If his opponent resists the standing back take, he’ll look to trip the far leg. Against Anton Turkalj, Almeida first attempted to trip the far leg, causing Turkalj to widen his base. In response, Almeida effortless switched to tripping the near leg while circling his body back in front of Turkalj, catching him completely off-guard.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Almeida’s kickboxing skill is unknown, and his wrestling is highly effective but relies on brute force. Fortunately, Almeida is absolutely elite once on the canvas.

The Brazilian is so consistently able to force finishes because his control is excellent. It’s not that his rear naked choke, arm triangle, or ground striking is so unbelievably potent or more advanced. He methodically exhausts his opponents and forces them to choose between bad positions, and quickly, the stoppage materializes.

Almeida’s pressure is so heavy because he’s able to make great use of both halves of his body. From the waist up, Almeida excels at maintaining chest pressure, usually in the form of chest-to-chest or chest-to-back contact. Almeida is constantly keeping the weight of his torso on his opponent, driving into them. This pressure helps him pass the guard, and it also allows him to negate the effectiveness of stiff arms and attempts to sit up with an underhook.

With his legs, Almeida is really skilled at scooping/hooking depending on the position. For example, if he takes his foe down along the fence, Almeida will immediately hook both legs and try to sit on them, Khabib-style. He’s good at sitting on a leg in half guard as well. The second his opponent starts to turn away, however, Almeida is digging a leg in as more of a jiu-jitsu hook, but he’ll switch back to triangling the legs if his opponent puts his back to the canvas.

Almeida is always looking for the wrist ride around the back. Any time his opponent bases on a hand or elbow in an attempt to gain height and scramble, Almeida is threading his arm through and grabbing at the wrist. Once the arm is secured, he’ll drive forward and break their posture further. With his free hand, Almeida can punch to create movement, or he can use the claw ride, meaning his free arm wraps his opponent’s loose arm and neck. From the claw ride and wrist ride position, Almeida can try to pressure into the arm triangle or take the back fully, depending on how his opponent moves in response.

If they don’t move, he’ll go back to punching, creating an unpleasant trio of options.

Using these tools and tenets of control, Almeida is able to flow from position to position without ever allowing his opponent to escape his realm of control, and there are some interesting tricks to his movement. For example, Almeida loves moving into mount, where that triumvirate of finishing options are available. However, he won’t always move from side control directly to mount. Instead, he’ll use his knee to enter more of a smash pass position, going underneath his opponent’s near leg and crossing it over his other hip. Usually, he does this with the wrist ride.

From this position, his opponent so screwed. Almeida can freely punch or hunt the arm triangle, and his opponent can only give up mount or back mount. Almeida ends up in the same dominant positions that he wants, but he forces his opponent to waste more energy and grow further demoralized before ending up there.

Finally, Almeida’s tactical ground striking is notable. Really, Almeida only tries to finish fights via strikes from true checkmate positions, like the flattened out back mount or high mount. Otherwise, Almeida grapples until met with a stalemate. Then, he’ll pop his opponent with a sneaky shot under the armpit or drop a huge elbow. When his foe rightfully freaks out to avoid damage, Almeida will immediately either advance position closer to one of those fight-ending spots or try to slink an arm around the throat, depending on his position.

Almeida may have great physical tools, but his strategy on that mat is one of creating brutal dilemmas for his opponent then patiently capitalizing on their choices.

Conclusion

Almeida is a lifelong martial artist and unusual prospect for the Heavyweight division. There are surely some bad match ups for him, fighters with the takedown defense to potentially force him into less comfortable areas of fighting. There are also vulnerable, high-ranking contenders who don’t have have a chance of avoiding his submission expertise.

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Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.