UFC Sao Paulo is in the books now. The event was headlined by a fight between top 10 heavyweights Derrick Lewis and Jailton Almeida. MMA fans had a lot of expectations from this match as they were expecting either a knockout or a submission finish. However, the lackluster match went to the judges’ decision after five rounds of action, which was unexpected.
Usually, heavyweight fights in the UFC are known to finish in the initial rounds. However, this fight was all about Jailton Almeida controlling ‘The Black Beast’ in the ground. Furthermore, Almeida was so bored controlling Lewis that he got distracted by an unexpected intruder inside the cage. In a video from the match, Jailton Almeida can be seen looking at a fly in the Octagon while controlling Derrick’s back.
Almeida is so bored 10-8ing Derrick Lewis rn that he got distracted by a fly in the cage #UFCSaoPaulo pic.twitter.com/RRFNfP5hrY
— OOC MMA (@oocmma) November 5, 2023
Throughout the fight, Jailton Almeida was taking ‘The Black Beast’ down and unsuccessfully attempting submissions on him. Furthermore, Almeida landed six takedowns and 38 significant strikes. On the other hand, KO artist, Derrick Lewis was unable to get going as he was only able to land 20 significant strikes in the boring match.
While the Sao Paulo card had some unforgettable knockouts, the main event failed to live up to its expectations. However, the Brazilian fighter was able to set a very interesting record in this match.
Jailton Almeida breaks the control time record against Derrick Lewis
While Jailton Almeida was unable to inflict damage on ‘The Black Beast’, he used his ground game to take down and control Lewis throughout the fight. In the process, Almeida set a new record for the longest ground control time. The Brazillian controlled Lewis for 21 minutes and 10 seconds in a 25-minute fight. He broke the record set by fellow heavyweight, Curtis Blaydes who had a control time of 19 minutes and 52 seconds against Alexander Volkov.
The 5-round main event was mainly contested on the ground due to the inability of Derrick Lewis to get up from the ground. Jailton was attempting a bunch of submissions including an arm triangle and rear-naked choke. Furthermore, the referee had to call for action multiple times during the match when Jailton had ‘The Black Beast’ in the full mount position.
Jailton Almeida wants Ciryl Gane next 👀 #UFCSP pic.twitter.com/99wpQkKd3B
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 5, 2023
The control record set by Jailton Almeida will be hard to break for his fellow fighters. If Derrick Lewis had trained on improving his takedown defense and ground game, we might have had an interesting and competitive fight. After the fight, Almeida decided to call out Ciryl Gane. We will have to wait and see if that match happens or not.