Jailton Almeida Beat the First-Round Horn to Stop Spivac
Jailton Almeida stopped Serghei Spivac with strikes at UFC 311 on January 18, 2025. Their heavyweight contest at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, ended at 4:53 of the first round after grappling exchanges gave way to Almeida’s decisive attack.
Spivac initiated the ground battle
Spivac took Almeida down early, beginning a series of positional changes in which both heavyweights found opportunities to work. Neither man immediately established uninterrupted control of the contest.
Almeida ultimately hurt Spivac with an uppercut while standing. He then returned the action to the floor, flattened his opponent out and delivered the ground strikes that forced the stoppage.
The result continued a successful recovery
Almeida had lost to Curtis Blaydes through a second-round knockout in March 2024. He returned that June and submitted Alexandr Romanov with a rear-naked choke at 2:27 of the opening round.
Stopping Spivac gave him consecutive first-round victories after that setback. The two finishes came by different methods, extending a run that had restored his momentum against heavyweight opposition.
His UFC record already included longer tests
Before the Blaydes defeat, Almeida had outpointed Derrick Lewis over five rounds in November 2023. His earlier victories also included a first-round submission of Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
The Spivac matchup demanded an answer to an opponent’s successful takedown before Almeida could impose his own offense. Winning the exchanges that followed allowed him to add another stoppage rather than relying on a full-distance decision.
Sources
- UFC: opening takedown, uppercut and ground-strike finish
- UFC: Blaydes, Romanov, Lewis and Rozenstruik results
- UFC: official result, date and venue
