Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac Prediction, Picks, Time: UFC 311

Jailton Almeida and Serghei Spivac meet on Saturday in the UFC 311 main card at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. Check out this quick review of the fight from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.

Last event: 3-3
UFC Main Card, 2024: 3-3

Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac UFC 311 preview

Almeida (21-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) will look to keep the momentum going after a first-round submission of Alexandr Romanov at UFC 302 in June. The victory followed Almeida’s first loss in the UFC, a second-round stoppage by Curtis Blaydes’ hammer fists. … Spivac (17-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) enters a similar situation with success in bouncing back from a loss in his last outing. In his only fight of 2024, Spivac pinned Marcin Tybura in the first round in August, a victory that followed a TKO loss to former interim champion Ciryl Gane.

Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac UFC 311 Expert Picks, Prediction

Despite action matches like Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Bercelos stuck in the lead-up, the UFC matchmakers can’t help themselves when it comes to force-feeding us heavyweight fights that nobody asked for – but I digress.

Promoted to the main card amid the chaos of weigh-in day is a heavyweight bout between Almeida and Spivac.

Heavyweight is an incredibly volatile division in an already volatile sport, and this matchup is a weird one to predict.

Spivac is one of the few heavyweight fighters with some semblance of a wrestling game, but the Moldovan has more of a limited sambo arsenal of takedowns that rely on his control of the clinch. I also think Spivac will be an inferior athlete to his Brazilian counterpart.

Almeida, affectionately referred to on the internet as “The Jail Man”, makes the character of Nast Nate from the movie “Half Baked” look like a white belt in terms of the way he can wrestle his prey to the ground. Once Almeida can establish a dominant position, the 33-year-old standout has no problem going to the capital if there is no application available.

The choice is Almeida by knockout in round 1.

Jailton Almeida vs. Sergey Spivac UFC 311 odds

The oddsmakers and the public favor the Brazilian, listing Almeida -470 and Spivac +340 via FanDuel.

Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac UFC 311 start time, how to watch

Almeida and Spivac are expected to go to the cage approx. 10:40 p.m. ET. The fight will flow on ESPN+.