The Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight, Jailton Almeida, is gearing up for a feel-good moment in sports. It’s set to happen at the end of January.
Almeida is scheduled to return to action on March 9 in Miami. He’ll be up against Curtis Blaydes during the main card of UFC 299. But before that, there’s something special in store.
“Malhadinho,” as Almeida is known, will participate in an exhibition charity match. His opponent? Alvaro Borges, a fighter with Down syndrome. The match is set for Jan. 27.
The venue for this special event is the Bahia Boxing and Martial Arts Training Center. It’s also known as the Centro de Treinamento de Boxe e Artes Marciais da Bahia, located in Salvador, Brazil.
This matchup, along with other fights on the Demo Fight 18 billing, were announced by the league on Instagram.
The league shared some thoughts on the upcoming match. “We know that sport is one of the biggest weapons of social inclusion we have,” they wrote. “Thinking about it, we decided to present an exhibition fight with the 2023 MMA revelation athlete Jailton ‘Malhadinho’ [UFC] and athlete Alvaro Borges with Down Syndrome. We are sure going to be a great show!”
This won’t be Borges’ first time in the cage. He debuted at Demo Fight 17 against fellow newbie Pablo Passos in a lightweight exhibition contest. Borges won with an armbar that forced Passos to tap. The crowd was jubilant, and so was Borges.
For this exhibition, Borges will be moving up in both weight and level of competition. Almeida joins fellow UFC fighters Diego Sanchez and Nate Quarry, both of whom took charity exhibition matches against men with Down syndrome.
When Almeida returns to professional competition, he’ll be putting his 15-fight, five-plus-year win streak on the line. He’s prevailed in all six appearances inside the Octagon. The heavyweight contender is coming off a dominant decision win over Derrick Lewis in November.
Interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall has expressed interest in defending his strap against the winner of the March clash between Almeida and Blaydes. This is while heavyweight champion Jon Jones is on the mend after suffering a shoulder injury.