MMA fighter, Cesar Almeida is hoping to join “the kickboxing wave” in UFC and despite his age and a 3-0 record, was offered a shot at the UFC’s Contender Series against Lucas Fernando, due largely to his previous kickboxing win over previous UFC champion Alex Pereira.
Cesar Almeida has expressed his desire to join what he terms as “the kickboxing wave” within the UFC. Despite being 35 and only holding a record of 3-0 in MMA, Almeida, also known as “Cesinha”, was given the opportunity to participate in the UFC’s Contender Series against middleweight Lucas Fernando. This comes as a surprise given that the Contender Series typically features younger, up-and-coming talent. However, Almeida’s previous kickboxing victory over former GLORY and UFC champion Alex Pereira seems to have cemented his place in the series.
In the space of 27 months, Almeida and Pereira faced off three times in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The first match ended in Pereira’s favor in March 2013, but Almeida retaliated with a win nine months later in a one-night, four-man WGP tournament’s final. The tie-breaker in their epic trilogy happened in July 2015 where Pereira emerged victorious. Following this, Pereira’s career took off with prominent wins over Israel Adesanya in both kickboxing and championships within the UFC and GLORY sphere. Almeida also dabbled in MMA shortly after his encounters with Pereira in 2016, before returning to the MMA scene in 2021. He managed to make a splash with back-to-back first-round knockouts, earning his chance at the Contender Series.
Pereira’s history definitely aided Almeida, especially attributing his success to the burgeoning interest in kickboxing within the UFC. Almeida emphasized that his win over Pereira certainly lent a hand in his selection but believes the UFC is actively scouting for kickboxers because they attract the audience. “People love knockouts here,” he added, acknowledging that the age factor and his victory over Pereira were instrumental when they considered him for this opportunity.
Almeida is set up to face his former teammate Lucas Fernando, who also hails from a striking background similar to him. However, Almeida dismisses any advantage citing the training sessions occurred many years ago and is confident in his abilities. He also commented on Fernando’s strategy saying, “I believe he will try to keep the distance because he’s taller than me. I think he’ll try to control the fight on the feet.” With a UFC contract up for grabs, Almeida is opulent in his vision of a “perfect” octagon debut if he emerges as the victor. His idea of the perfect scenario is to give an excellent performance, win with a knockout and make his debut at UFC Sao Paulo.