Jailton Almeida vs. Alexandr Romanov now set for UFC 302

A new heavyweight matchup has been confirmed for Jailton Almeida at UFC 302.

Almeida is set to face Alexandr Romanov at the pay-per-view event, which takes place June 1 in Newark, N.J. The matchup initially was reported by Ag. Fight and confirmed to MMA Fighting by multiple people with knowledge of the news.

Almeida originally was set to face Alexander Volkov at the June 1 event. But UFC CEO Dana White subsequently announced Volkov had instead been booked to fight fellow Russian Sergei Pavlovich at UFC Saudi Arabia, set for June 22 in Riyadh.

Almeida hopes to bounce back after suffering the first setback of his octagon career, a knockout loss to Curtis Blaydes at UFC 299. Prior to that, the Brazilian submission specialist had steamrolled his opposition, winning six straight with just one of his opponents surviving to the scorecards.

Romanov is nine months removed from a comeback win over Blagoy Ivanov, who helped him snap a two-fight skid that deflated the hype he built with a five-fight winning streak. Before his setbacks, none of his 16 wins had involved judges.

UFC 302’s headliner has yet to be confirmed. The event’s main card airs on ESPN+ pay-per-view.