LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Lucas Almeida[/autotag] showed everyone why he was brought into the UFC after picking up one win following his loss on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021.
The Brazilian featherweight returned to Jungle Fight, where he was champion of the lightweight division to record a first-round submission victory. A few months later, Almeida (14-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) was making the walk to the octagon at the UFC Apex to face the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 27, Mike Trizano.
Looking to “win and convince,” Almeida entered his UFC with the goal of finishing his opponent, and did just that in the third round. The first two frames of the bout were hotly contested, but Almeida clipped Trizano (9-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) with a hard left hook that led to the end of the fight.
“I’m just so happy, I woke up this morning and God spoke to me and said it’s going to be a war,” Almeida told reporters through an interpreter at the post-fight news conference. “I knew it was going to be a war. He also said you’re going to knock him out and that’s what I was able to do.”
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Not only did Almeida pick up a win in his UFC debut, but he also took home an extra $50,000 as a part of the Fight of the Night bonus. Aside from a few bumps and bruises sustained during the back-and-forth moments of the fight, Almeida couldn’t be happier with the result considering the path he took to reach the UFC.
“My story is one of overcoming, and that’s exactly what happened,” Almeida said. “I knew I had to overcome, and that overcoming leads to a new Lucas. It’s going to be the story of this new era in my life of a new Lucas.
“I felt that I was not ready for the Contender Series. To go back to Jungle Fight was very important for me. I’ve been a champion there for quite some time, but I was not ready for Contender Series, but I was ready now. I proved why I’m here and why I belong.”