- Joined
- Mar 5, 2016
- Messages
- 13,107
- Reaction score
- 13,196
Eventually if they remove enough boring fighters this guy will get another win... maybe?
News ❌Fighter removed: Jailton Almeida
- Thread starter AMAZINGUFC
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2009
- Messages
- 16,119
- Reaction score
- 38,721
There is a difference between a boring fighter back in the day (Fitch) who would still attempt to strike and advance position and lay and pray artists like Mokaev and Jailton who refuse to fight.
If it were up to me, anyone who has more minutes of control time than significant strikes gets a warning before being cut for similar performances.
We literally changed the unified rules to hinder these types of blanket decision merchants for the health of the sport.
Unfortunately, the powers that be aren't brave enough to return the yellow and red card systems which would be an actionable step forward, but that's a conversation for another thread.
You know, I don't disagree with you, but I'm sure that there were conversations had before the Kuniev fight. They gave him a guy with competent grappling, expecting it to draw a fight out of Jailton if he couldn't just spam his power double, instead it became a clinchfest snoozer after Jailton went 0/8 on takedowns and was outstruck 2-1.
I'm not one to believe that they never talked to Jailton or his management. If we're seeing issues, I doubt the UFC didn't see issues.
Fun jobbers are needed. Boring jobbers are not needed. This has been a facet of each and every combat sport and always will be. They resigned Moutinho on a single fight to get blasted. Guys like Sam Alvey and Tai are going to always be in the UFC even outside of outliers like BJ, sometimes guys just lose well.
It's nowhere near as bad as boxing where guys are fighting exclusively cans immediately before their title shots (besides Paddy
)Eh, you've got a point about him trying to win, but you're still getting more out of Tai even when he's losing than you're getting with Jailton when he's winning.
I don't think it's worth keeping a guy around to stink up literally every single card he is on at what is supposed to be the premier entertainment weightclass in order to keep heavyweights on their toes from a guy that...spams power doubles?
What did Kuniev exactly gain from this fight? He won and his stock somewhat dropped, that's how boring Jailton makes fights. The Blaydes fight showed Jailton doesn't have the necessary fight IQ to be a champion or even a threat to the top of the division, so what was even the point of having him around, realistically?
If Jailton's singular job in the UFC was to fraud check HW's sprawl while "winning", then you should have no problem with Tai's only job being a punching bag while losing.
End of the day, these guys are fighting for our entertainment.
If Jailton fought every fight like he did against Spivac/Romanov, attempting to blitz a ground game and finish a fight, no one would complain.
However, he has proven that his norm is a gunshy wrestler who does not even throw ground strikes. Jailton likes to grapple, he does not like to fight.
I agree that Walker or Buchecha could have been interesting but that was also said about the Kuniev fight since he'd be able to neutralize Jailton's wrestling and it still turned into a bore.
If you gave me a weekend with Jailton with a bar tab and a few blunts and a white noise machine, I'd make him into a killer overnight.
We're calling the gym TEAM CULT.
They should have given Jailton one more back at 205, but I'm not crying that they didn't.
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2021
- Messages
- 14,382
- Reaction score
- 35,110
The absolute STATE of the HW division
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2019
- Messages
- 6,972
- Reaction score
- 12,577
Personally, I think it's better for the promotion and the sport to let the sport weed these guys out on its own. I know judging doesn't always work as it "should", but lately I feel like judges are coming around on the idea of impact-based scoring and what to prioritize. Almeida's loss to Volkov was a landmark moment. Jailton was losing fights, he had shown deficiencies in his game based largely on the very complaints we were all making about him. Either let him address it or let him lose fights in enough number or so badly that he gets cut the regular way. After all, clearly his current set of tools was no longer working so we're talking about a problem that was potentially self-righting... and maybe somewhere along the way he checks some fat, no-grappling brawler who flukes their way into the rankings with no understanding of how to stuff a takedown. I don't see this as a bad thing.
I mean, someone probably did. It's just I'm not a huge fan of these "backstage talks". The UFC warned Wonderboy not to shoot takedowns early in his career because that "isn't why they signed him". They warned Karl Williams not to wrestle before giving him a kickboxer, lol, despite the fact that it was his clearest path to victory and most of his prior fights weren't actually that boring IMHO.
Fun jobbers are needed. Boring jobbers are not needed. This has been a facet of each and every combat sport and always will be. They resigned Moutinho on a single fight to get blasted. Guys like Sam Alvey and Tai are going to always be in the UFC even outside of outliers like BJ, sometimes guys just lose well.
It's nowhere near as bad as boxing where guys are fighting exclusively cans immediately before their title shots (besides Paddy
How fun is it to see someone like Austen Lane or Brzeski get chinned in the first round as a +800 underdog for the fourth time in a row? Sure if your eyes are glazed over and you're sitting drunk in a Buffalo Wild Wings at 8 PM, I get it. But for a promotion that touts itself as the elite MMA organization catering only to the best of the best, I find it hard to take too many of these matchmaking and retention decisions seriously -- especially in divisions that are already notoriously talent-starved. Jailton is not/was not a "jobber" in my eyes, he was a struggling gatekeeper who couldn't get over a self-imposed hump.
I don't know, man. I found that Tallison fight to be pretty awful to watch. Two dudes too winded to raise their guard, much less punch each other? Tai plodding around after eating dozens of jabs to no finish against Rozenstruik, looking like a kickboxer in his first week of sparring going against his coach? The Tybura fight was practically over before it began and showed just how far off the rails Tai was and how deficient his grappling skill set was.
Jailton put on a couple of stinkers, sure, but at least at the end of the day there's some level of interest for me in seeing which guys are (or are not) capable of getting past his stylistic puzzle.
I don't think Heavyweight should have a different set of criteria. There's this undercurrent I've heard a lot of "People sign up to see Heavyweights knock each other out, not grappling!". If anything it's a division that's perennially starved for technical fighters (especially grapplers) these days so I'm willing to forgive the occasional grinder and point-fighter who is capable of exploiting the weaknesses of his peers.
Kuniev won the way a lot of people expected him to and we saw that he had solid fight IQ and excellent takedown defense. He proves he belongs, which was sort of up in the air after losing to an injured Curtis (and getting taken down early in that fight). The Blaydes fight was Jailton's first loss; are we going to just arbitrarily write off anyone who takes their first loss on the nebulous grounds of "can't get past the Top 5"? This is putting aside the potential for self-improvement, the fact that he was shifting divisions, and the fact that there's nothing inherently wrong with a grappling-oriented gatekeeper especially at HW.
If we were keeping both, I would in fact be fine with it. Both are "IQ tests" in their own way and whatever, Tai brings eyes. My issue is that Jailton is/was clearly the better guy at least lately and has a solid record overall... Tai can't really argue the same. So canning Jailton "because boring lol" while keeping Tai just irks me, because it's superficial as hell and I don't even think Tuivasa is what people want him to be anymore these days anyway.
I don't disagree. That is a recent transition in his game, one which frustrated me as well. I'm not saying people can't complain (because I have, too). I'm just saying I don't think a fighter having a superficially boring style in a couple of fights should send him out the door right away removed of all other context.
The difference is that Kuniev was seeking to land strikes in transition and use his physicality/mass to control clinch exchanges. Valter Walker would potentially be diving for Almeida's feet, which would be intriguing because we get to see if his one-trick-pony game works against Almeida who despite all our grievances is still a legitimate grappler. It would have given Jailton a chance to show something more and Walker a chance to prove himself against a stiff test.
Shit, sign me up too.
It annoys me, personally, especially because Jailton isn't the first and he won't be the last. Buday, Williams, Romanov, etc. it's just the latest trend at HW. I'm sometimes amazed Blaydes has lasted as long as he has. Hokit is their darling right now, but I actually predict a similar career path for him. Give him a couple of tougher guys and that blitzing pressure-boxing-to-GnP attack of his is going to stop working so well and he's gonna be hugging guys against the side of the cage to a Decision before talking shit on the mic like a Heavyweight Colby... but that last part might actually save him.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2024
- Messages
- 8,288
- Reaction score
- 21,688
Stupid cut.
Just shut the HW division, TBH, it's in the pits, they let decent guys leave, they let champions leave, they let anybody leave.
Pretty clear they don't give a shit about the division, which is probably in the worst state it has ever been.
Just shut the HW division, TBH, it's in the pits, they let decent guys leave, they let champions leave, they let anybody leave.
Pretty clear they don't give a shit about the division, which is probably in the worst state it has ever been.
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2007
- Messages
- 8,066
- Reaction score
- 9,891
what do you mean now? MMA has always been like this. all pro sports are entertainment.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2004
- Messages
- 13,322
- Reaction score
- 18,819
they never gonna allow another jon fitch to do anything
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2007
- Messages
- 8,066
- Reaction score
- 9,891
belal muhammad's reputation is just as bad as jon fitch's and he was champion like 3 days ago.
the UFC still has boring fighters.
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2012
- Messages
- 15,150
- Reaction score
- 13,014
Damn. Just seeing the news. I'm not surprised they would be annoyed with him but it's only two losses in a row, heavyweight no less, and he has a decent name because of his early success. Despite his recent timidity, he's only been to decision 4 times and won 3 of them. There's other guys that deserve the cut before him.
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2021
- Messages
- 11,468
- Reaction score
- 16,776
Good
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2022
- Messages
- 4,651
- Reaction score
- 13,621
UFC has no interest in glapplers.
Only exposes their agenda in trying to make subpar marketable fights rather than the best vs best like an actual sport.
Only exposes their agenda in trying to make subpar marketable fights rather than the best vs best like an actual sport.
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2007
- Messages
- 15,115
- Reaction score
- 2,966
Yeah it is all politics.
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2021
- Messages
- 14,382
- Reaction score
- 35,110
Bam Bam has lost six in a row (of which he was finished in the first four).
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2008
- Messages
- 55,148
- Reaction score
- 43,622
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2007
- Messages
- 2,779
- Reaction score
- 87
Heavyweight has never been thinner in terms of talent but after Almeida's last two fights its easy to see why they cut him, his last showing was absolutely horrible he had zero aggression and showed no fire even being down two rounds in an absolute snooze fest. Going back to light heavyweight might help him but can definitely understand him getting cut even with his record being 8-3.
