Curtis Blaydes finishes Jailton Almeida with come-from-behind performance

A bout between heavyweight contenders served as the UFC 299 preliminary fight card featured bout on Saturday.  

Fifth-ranked Curtis Blaydes and seventh-ranked Jailton Almeida clashed at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.  Blaydes hoped to rebound from a loss to Sergei Pavlovich in his last outing.  Almeida entered the match riding a 15-fight winning streak.  He last felt defeat in 2018.

Almeida looked to get the fight to the ground early in the opening round.  He put Blaydes on his back but Blaydes worked his way back to his feet.  Almeida slammed him back to the canvas.  Blaydes tried several times to stand but Almeida continued to put him back down.  

Almeida did not inflict damage but secured nine takedowns in the first frame.  MMAWeekly scored the round a clear 10-9 for Almeida.    

Almedia landed a right hand at the beginning of the second round.  He quickly changed levels and worked to secure a single-leg takedown.  Blaydes sprawled and delivered hammer fists to the side of Almeida’s head.  Almeida was hurt and fell over to the side and the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.  

Blaydes ended Almeida’s 15-fight winning streak and got back in the win column.  He’s won four of his last fight fights.