At UFC 220, Thomas Almeida and Rob Font go toe to toe in the bantamweight division in a fight that promises to be an all-out war. Both fighters will be hoping to get back to winnings ways after losing their last fights in the UFC.
Almeida is ranked 10th in the UFC‘s bantamweight division. Almeida fought for various Brazilian organisations before signing for Legacy and then from Legacy the Brazilian was signed for the UFC. The 26-year-old made his professional debut back in 2011 and went on a 17 fight win streak winning the Legacy bantamweight title in his final fight before signing for the greatest organisation on the planet. Another four-fight win streak against Tim Gorman, Yves Jabouin, Anthony Birchak and one of the greatest flying knee knockouts ever against Brad Pickett, if it wasn’t for Pickett’s mouth guard he would have been spitting teeth. This was enough to get a fight against former UFC bantamweight champion – Cody Garbrandt.
With Almeida being 21-0 and Garbrandt being 9-0 it was a fight which had a lot of hype. Sadly for the 26-year-old, Garbrandt knocked him clean out resulting in the former Legacy champion gaining his first loss. Seven months later he knocked out Albert Morales in the second round.
In the post-fight interview with Jon Anik, the Brazilian said: “It’s great to fight here in my home country, I’m back, my last fight I was not happy at all with it. I have to say thank you to everyone. Albert’s a really tough guy he can take a lot of shots but I was really their physically and mentally so it was good for me”.
The Brazilian followed that up with a loss to Jimmie Rivera who is ranked number four in the UFC‘s bantamweight division. The 26-year-old who now has a record of 22-2 will be wanting to get back in the winning column and a win over Font would put Almeida back in the title picture.
Font began training MMA in 2009 and lost his first amateur fight. Not put off by losing his first ever MMA fight Font went on to win his next three fights and went on to fight professionally in 2011. Fighting for various organisations before signing for CES with a 4-1 record. The orthodox fighter went on a six-fight win streak and became the CES featherweight champion before signing for the UFC in 2014. George Roop was the 30-year-olds first challenge the famous octagon but Font shut Roop’s brain off with a beautiful punch in the first round. Then a similar victory over Joey Gomez left the fans hungry for more. The American then lost to John ‘Hands Of Stone’ Lineker, but came back to beat Matt Schnell and then gained a guillotine choke submission victory over Douglas Silva de Andrade at UFC 213.
In a backstage interview, Font said: “This was a huge fight for me Douglas hasn’t lost in like forever, his like 24-1 so for me to beat a guy like that was huge for me”.
Three months later the American lost to Pedro Munhoz but is eager to get back in the cage with the Almeida fight being only three months after the loss.
Nobody can predict how this fight will end but it promises to be a great fight. The winner will surely be awarded at least a top-five ranked opponent which will be enough for both fighters to really push the limits. With both Almeida and Font being former champions and having the taste for gold it would only take a couple of wins before one of them has the opportunity to fight for the belt in the UFC.
By Ryan Cambridge
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