The UFC has rebooked a previously scheduled heavyweight main event that fell through.
At UFC Fight Night 231 in November, [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag] was set to face [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] in a five-round headliner. Blaydes withdrew due to injury, and Alemida ended up fighting and defeating Derrick Lewis.
The promotion has decided to revisit the matchup, booking Almeida (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) against Blaydes (17-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) in a three-round bout March 9 at UFC 299. A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie following an initial report from MMA Fighting on Tuesday.
The event is expected to take place in Miami, but the promotion has yet to officially confirm the location and venue.
Almeida’s unanimous decision win over Lewis was a dominant outing, but also the first time the undefeated Brazilian heavyweight went the distance in his UFC career. “Malhadinho” entered that contest on the heels of a first-round submission win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Blaydes will be looking to rebound from a first-round TKO loss to Sergei Pavlovich in April. The setback halted a three fight winning streak.
With the addition the UFC 299 lineup includes:
- Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera – for bantamweight title
- Gilbert Burns vs. Jack Della Maddalena
- Maycee Barber vs. Katlyn Chookagian
- Pedro Munhoz vs. Kyler Phillips
- Asu Almabaev vs. CJ Vergara
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.