Although he may not have planned that, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Magomed Ankalaev attracted attention from outside his weight class.
After his title awarded UFC 313 in March, Ankalaev was drawn up to Rematchen Alex Pereira, whose regime had ended after three successful defenses.
But the certainty that it was thrown into the air in the air after 'Patan' is said to have rejected the shot at the UFC 317 event of International Fight Week.
Pereira was apparently not only in that position, because Ankalaev also claimed that Jiri Procazka was struggling.
With that in mind, the apparently frustrated champion went to social media to take on an open challenge for the light heavyweight selection.
However, one prominent response came from elsewhere.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Jailton Almeida willing to leave heavyweight for a shot on Magomed Ankalaev
A day after the challenge of the Dagestani, Heavyweight Competter Jilton Almeida answered with her own X post.
'Malhadinho', currently number 6 in the toughest division of the promotion, expressed his willingness to fall until 205 pounds for a shot on Ankalaev.
The 33-year-old wrote: “Hey champion, I accept the challenge, I am willing to prevent [you] And fight you for the title! “
Almeida even offered to replicate the promise from Ankalaev to Pereira before their pay-per-view main event by keeping itself back when using his wrestling arsenal, and added: “Do you accept? I promise I will not bring you down, only strike.”
🙋🏿️Hey champion, I accept the challenge, I am willing to go aging and fight against you for the title! Alex has always fought in short term, he is too big to do that again, he doesn't need it. Let's go! Do you accept? I promise I will not bring you down, only stuck 😉 https://t.co/pctmttoqy8
– Jailton Almeida “Malhadinho” (@malhadinho_ufc) 15 May 2025
View tweet
Ankalaev still has to respond to the post, which included tags to UFC CEO Dana White and matchmaker Mick Maynard.
Jilton Almeida has a lot of light heavyweight experience
When it comes to thinking about a future in light heavyweight, Almeida would certainly not arrive without any experience.
In fact, the Brazilian powerhouse entered the UFC as a 205-ponder, after he had earned a contract with the Contender Series by Dana White with an entry victory over Nasrudin Nasrudinov.
Almeida also took the absorption of one dominant victory in light heavyweight as a UFC hunter and easily pushed past Danilo Marques before he made a permanent move to heavyweight.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
He quickly rose through the ranks with remarkable victories about knockout artists Jairzinho Rozen bush and Derrick Lewis.
Although a first Octagon laid down his title ambitions against Curtis Blaydes, the consecutive finish of Alexandr Romanov and Serghei Spivac Almeida have left one place outside the top five.