Up until May 2016, rising star Thomas Almeida looked on course to get a crack at Dominick Cruz before the year's end.
There was a lot of hype around Almeida when he entered into the UFC. As a promising youngster with a pristine professional record that looked more like a professional boxer's resume (17-0, 16 finishes, 1 decision), the Brazilian prospect looked set to be fast tracked for a title fight.
He then took the world's largest MMA promotion by storm. After going the distance with Tim Gorman in his promotional debut, he then scored knockout victories Yves Jabouin, Brad Pickett and Anthony Birchak. This set him up nicely with a title eliminator against another young, undefeated knockout artist who had been making waves in the MMA world.
When Almeida stepped into the Octagon against Cody Garbrandt at UFC Fight Night 88, few expected the scrap to last long. Sure enough, it didn't even go past the first round, but it was the American who walked away the victor and he was subsequently matched up against Cruz next.
For Almeida, it was back to the drawing board.
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Just under six months following his first ever loss, Almeida returned to the Octagon to take on LA native Albert Morales in Sao Paolo.
There were no signs of any post-loss jitters as Almeida went straight back to doing what he does best, laying on a hurting on his opponent. Morales felt his power in the early exchanges as he was rocked with a forceful right hand. Almeida then went in for the kill, punishing his opponent with nasty strikes until he desperately shot in for the takedown and failed to lock in a rear-naked choke.
Morales survived the first round, but he would not see the end of the second as Almeida began letting his hands go from the get-go, overwhelming his opponent. His powerful combinations had Morales stumbling all over the Octagon as he tried his utmost to weather the violent storm and recover. However, Almeida was relentless and trapped Morales against the cage where he teed off with devastating flurries until the referee stepped in and awarded him the TKO victory at 1:37 of the second frame.
His sensational performance was enough to earn him a Performance of the Night bonus worth a whopping $50,000.
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