ACA 207 results: Evgeniy Goncharov outpoints Jailton Almeida
Evgeniy Goncharov won a clean decision over Jailton Almeida at ACA 207, dropping the former UFC top five heavyweight to four losses in a row.
Jailton Almeida came to ACA looking for a reset. He got a fourth straight loss instead.
Evgeniy Goncharov beat Jailton Almeida by unanimous decision across three rounds to headline ACA 207, and there was nothing controversial about it. Goncharov, 40 years old and fighting in his own promotion's cage, did what a 23-3 veteran is supposed to do to a heavyweight coming off a bad stretch: he was steady, he didn't get finished, and he let the judges do the rest. Almeida's UFC run peaked with a number five ranking last November. It ends, for now, at 22-6 and unranked anywhere.
That is the real story here, not the scorecards. Almeida went 0-3 to close out his UFC contract, a TKO loss to Curtis Blaydes, a split decision to Alexander Volkov, and a unanimous decision to Rizvan Kuniev in February, the kind of stretch that gets a heavyweight cut regardless of how many limbs he'd previously detached. ACA signing him made sense on paper: a name with real UFC miles on it, a promotion that could use the credibility, a chance for Almeida to rebuild against competition a notch below what ends careers. Instead he walked into a healthy, motivated 40 year old former ACA titleholder and lost the same way he'd been losing, on the cards, without a signature moment to hang the loss on. Four fights, four losses, zero finishes against him. Whatever ACA had planned for him, it needs a second act now, because the first one didn't work.
Goncharov, for his part, keeps doing what he's done for most of a decade in this promotion: winning fights nobody outside Russia's heavyweight scene is watching closely, then occasionally getting a name opponent who reminds everyone he's still very good. He has no fight currently on the books. At his age, "keep winning and see who else washes up" is a perfectly reasonable plan.
The rest of the card
The most interesting result on the undercard wasn't a finish, it was the one fight where nobody won. Anton Vinnikov and Arash Sadeghi went the distance at heavyweight and came away with a split draw, the kind of result that satisfies nobody and settles nothing. Neither man has a next fight announced either, so the rematch case makes itself.
Elsewhere, ACA 207 was mostly finishes. Khasan Dadalov needed one round and a flying knee to get rid of Bagama Nikabagamaev at lightweight, the kind of finish that ends up on ACA's highlight reel regardless of how deep the card was buried. Bogdan Plutakhin knocked out Nemat Abdrashitov in the second round of another lightweight bout, and Alexey Polpudnikov stopped Mukhamed Kokov on punches at welterweight in round two. Nikolay Galochkin and Murad Kalamov both got rear naked choke finishes, at lightweight and bantamweight respectively, and Michel Silva stopped Muslim Ibragimov with punches to the body in the first round.
The two decisions that weren't the main event went to the judges without controversy. Andrey Koshkin took a split decision over Herdeson Batista at welterweight, and Sharapudin Magomedov won a clean unanimous nod at bantamweight. On the other side of the ledger, Arbi Agujev outpointed Evgeniy Egemberdiev at heavyweight and Chermen Gobaev did the same to Akhmed Musakaev at bantamweight.
None of that changes what the show will be remembered for. ACA got a marquee win for a name fighter it can build a heavyweight push around, and the UFC's former number five heavyweight left with a question nobody in Brazil or Las Vegas is eager to answer out loud: what does Jailton Almeida look like when the losing stops?