Jailton Almeida vs Rizvan Kuniev — Fight recap

Rizvan Kuniev defeated Jailton Almeida by unanimous decision over three rounds on February 7, 2026, with referee Dan Miragliotta officiating. Kuniev's striking volume proved decisive, landing 43 of 93 significant strikes compared to Almeida's 31 of 67, though both fighters landed at an identical 46% accuracy rate.

The decisive factor was cage control, where Kuniev dominated with 6:35 of control time versus Almeida's 1:24. Almeida's wrestling proved ineffective, failing to land any of his eight takedown attempts, while Kuniev attempted none.

The striking exchanges remained relatively even in head strikes—Kuniev landed 31 of 77 to Almeida's 17 of 50—but Kuniev's superior positioning and control time throughout the bout secured all three scorecards. This victory suggests Kuniev is climbing the heavyweight rankings while raising questions about Almeida's path forward at the elite level.