Jailton Almeida vs. Curtis Blaydes, Mateusz Gamrot vs. Rafael dos Anjos Set for UFC 299

Two key matchups have been booked for UFC 299, as Jailton Almeida will face Curtis Blaydes at heavyweight, while Mateusz Gamrot will meet Rafael dos Anjos at lightweight.

The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed the bouts on Tuesday. UFC 299 takes place on March 9 and is headlined by a bantamweight title tilt pitting Sean O’Malley against Marlon Vera.

Almeida and Blaydes were initially supposed to lock horns at UFC Fight Night 231 in Sao Paulo, but Blaydes was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury. Instead, Almeida cruised to a five-round verdict against Derrick Lewis in the card’s new main event. “Maladinho” has won 15 consecutive fights, a streak that includes six triumphs in UFC competition.

Blaydes last appeared at UFC Fight Night 222 this past April, when he had a three-bout winning streak snapped in a first-round technical knockout loss to Sergei Pavlovich. “Razor” is 12-4 in the Octagon, with victories over the likes of Tom Aspinall, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Volkov, Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt, to name a few.

Gamrot has won six of his last seven Octagon appearances, with his lone defeat during that stretch coming via unanimous decision against Beneil Dariush at UFC 280. The former KSW champ is 2-0 in 2023 with victories over Jalin Turner and Rafael Fiziev to his credit.

The 39-year-old dos Anjos has competed at both lightweight and welterweight under the UFC banner. In his last outing, the former 155-pound champion dropped a unanimous verdict to Vicente Luque in the UFC on ESPN 51 headliner on Aug. 12.