Jailton Almeida vs. Curtis Blaydes and several other matchups added to UFC 299 in March

UFC 299 has gotten a big boost in the form of Jailton Almeida vs. Curtis Blaydes, as well as several other fight announcements.

The card is currently slated for next March and will be held in Miami. In the main event, Sean O’Malley will return to the octagon to defend his bantamweight gold against Marlon Vera. The bout is a rematch of their prior encounter in 2020, which saw ‘Chito’ win by first-round stoppage.

The card has largely been untouched, until today. As first reported by MMA Fighting, Jailton Almeida vs. Curtis Blaydes has now been added to the event. The fight announcement is a rebooking, as the two heavyweights were originally slated to fight in Brazil this Fall.

However, Curtis Blaydes withdrew from the matchup due to injury and was later replaced by Derrick Lewis. In his return to Brazil, Jailton Almeida dominated ‘The Black Beast’, scoring a lopsided unanimous decision victory. Now, he will return to the octagon in March, to try and score his 16th win in a row.

Meanwhile, ‘Razor’ has been out of the cage since a knockout loss to Sergei Pavlovich in April. That stoppage defeat snapped a three-fight winning streak for Curtis Blaydes. However, he will now return to the cage early next year to try and halt the momentum of Jailton Almeida.

However, there were other matchups besides Curtis Blaydes vs. Jailton Almeida announced earlier today. As first reported by the UFC itself, Mateusz Gamrot will return at UFC 299 to face former champion Rafael dos Anjos. For his part, ‘Gamer’ is currently riding a two-fight winning streak, last defeating Rafael Fiziev in September.

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Meanwhile, the Brazilian is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Vicente Luque in August. That defeat put the former UFC lightweight champion to 3-2 in his last five, having scored wins over names such as Paul Felder and Bryan Barberena. Now, he will return to the cage next year to try and defeat the rising Gamrot.

Beyond that lightweight clash is the addition of a women’s flyweight clash. As reported by All In Sports Management, Lauren Murphy will return at UFC 299 to take on Karine Silva. ‘Lucky’ hasn’t been seen since a unanimous decision defeat to Jessica Andrade in January, in quite a hard-to-watch bout.

Meanwhile, ‘Killer’ is riding an eight-fight winning streak heading into the bout. Furthermore, Silva has scored three of those victories inside the UFC octagon, defeating names such as Maryna Moroz. The bout with Lauren Murphy will be the biggest challenge of the Brazilian’s career thus far.

While the addition of fights such as Jailton Almeida vs. Curtis Blaydes is excellent, the card isn’t done being built. In recent weeks, Islam Makhachev has called for a return in March, likely at UFC 299 against Justin Gaethje. However, that lightweight title bout hasn’t been announced as of now.

What do you make of these fight announcements? Which fight are you most excited about? Is it the heavyweight clash between Jailton Almeida and Curtis Blaydes?