Thomas Almeida was last seen in the octagon when he fell short against Jimmie Rivera back in July at UFC Long Island. Since then he’s been at the gym anxious to get back in there.
The dynamic bantamweight has spent the last few weeks training at Phuket Top Team in Thailand, honing his skills and revisiting his Muay-Thai roots.
“Thailand was great,” Almeida said. “I got a lot of training done there. Phuket Top Team is not just Muay-Thai, they have a lot of wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing, all parts of MMA.”
He just decided to go one day and was able to meet up with fellow Brazilians Thiago Tavares, featherweight champion Cris Cyborg and several others.
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“The people there were like family,” he explained. “I just decided to go, I felt like I needed to use my Muay-Thai more. I liked focusing 100% on training and having nothing else to do but training, relaxing and eating. I stayed at the gym so it was easy access for me.”
He believed a large reason why he wasn’t able to find much success against Rivera was due to being too tentative. His visit to Thailand was all about letting loose with his striking.
“I took too long to get comfortable with my distance,” Almeida said. “He dropped me twice in the beginning of the first round so I was too cautious. In the second round, I found my distance and I dropped him once.”
“He’s very smart, he tried not to expose himself and tried some takedowns in the third round. I had to be more aggressive, especially in the third round. I had to use more kicks. More combinations with my hands and feet to try and get the knockout.”
Now with the fight behind him and fully focused on battle, Almeida wants to fight at least one more time before the end of this year. Currently ranked at number 9, there aren’t many ranked opponents available for the Brazilian.
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He has turned his attention to Eddie Wineland and Aljamain Sterling, the only two ranked bantamweights available.
“Maybe Eddie Wineland. I think it would be a nice fight between two strikers. I think all the fans would like that match-up.”
Unfortunately for Almeida, Wineland has said that he’s targeting a return mid next year leaving only one real option in terms of ranked opponents.
“Yeah it’s a good fight, he’s ranked better than me,” Almeida said on Aljamain Sterling. “I think he’s a good wrestler and I’d have to defend his takedown attempts. I need to improve my striking and be more aggressive like I used to be.”
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Almeida tried his luck with Bryan Caraway when he called him out on Twitter but shortly after that Caraway was booked to fight Luke Sanders. For now, he’s waiting for the UFC and is willing to fight whoever they offer.
How bout a fight between me & @BryanCaraway? I remember you said the UFC protects me but I think you’re scared. I’d love to break your face.
“For me the rankings don’t mean much,” Almeida said. “They don’t use the rankings to see who gets a title shot.”
“There are no easy fights in the UFC. All the fighters are well prepared and everybody has a chance. I think the division is full of great fighters.”
