Serghei Spivac is ready for anybody, including Jailton Almeida.
On Saturday, Spivac scored the eighth win of his UFC career, submitting Marcin Tybura with an armbar in the main event of UFC Vegas 95. The win avenged an earlier loss to Tybura and moves “Polar Bear” up in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings at heavyweight. Still, only 29 years old and now back in the winning column, Spivac knows there are plenty of opportunities awaiting him up the ladder.
“I’ll definitely take a break,” Spivac said in his post-fight press conference. “I’ll heal up. But when people ask me what’s next, it’s very hard for me to say because a lot of things can change in the heavyweight division really quickly. So it’s good for me when the UFC says who is next as opposed to me having to choose. I understand that tournaments happen every single Saturday, every single week, so I’ll wait and we’ll see what’s next.”
“What’s next” may be fairly straightforward. In his post-fight speech on Saturday, Tybura called for a matchup with anybody ranked above him, and No. 7-ranked Jailton Almeida quickly answered the call.
“Spivak, do you want someone above you in the rankings? Im here!! #7 vs #8 . I want to fight Bro! Happy you get the finish early, so, we can fight soon!”
Almeida suffered his first loss in the UFC earlier this year when he got knocked out by Curtis Blaydes at UFC 299, but rebounded with a submission victory over Alexandr Romanov at UFC 302. A matchup between Almeida and Spivac would figure to be a grappler’s delight, and never one to be overly loquacious, Spivac had a very direct response to Almeida’s call out when asked about it.
“Let him train,” Spivac said.
A couple of times on the evening, Spivac made it clear he does not wish to call out anyone specifically as he tries to be respectful at all times, but is willing to fight whoever the UFC deigns to give him. The only thing he would request is a timeline. Spivac and his partner are set to have their first child in just a couple of weeks, so he wants to take some time before returning before 2025.
“End of the year would be great,” Spivac said. “I would come back at the end of the year, as long as I stay healthy.”
