Thomas Almeida is dealing with the ‘biggest challenge of his career,’ and it’s not inside the cage.
Almeida recently withdrew from his scheduled bout with Marlon Vera at UFC 235 after discovering worsening problems with his vision. The 27-year-old bantamweight has since completed eye surgery and will be taking time to heal before returning to the octagon.
The Brazilian mixed martial artist hasn’t competed since January 2018 when he was defeated by Rob Font at UFC 220. Almeida was stopped in the second round of the bout after a head kick and series of punches from his opponent. That defeat marked Almeida’s third defeat in his last four fights.
Almeida entered the UFC in 2014 after maintaining a perfect undefeated record through his first 17 fights. He proceeded to win four bouts in the UFC, earning a slot in a main event bout against also undefeated Cody Garbrandt in May 2016. Almeida bounced back with a win over Albert Morales six months later, but then lost fights to Jimmie Rivera and Font.
“Unfortunately, I’m out of the UFC 235 March 2nd. I wanna say sorry to my opponent [Marlon Vera].”
“I’ve been dealing with the biggest challenge of my career. This problem in my vision. Last Sunday, I was driving back home after a great week of practice and I noticed something different in my vision, I headed up to the doctor and he diagnosed that I needed surgery. Everything went well and now it’s time to heal up and be patient in the process. I want to thanks my coaches who were providing me the best camp of my life and the UFC for always taking care of me. We’ll be back, believe me.”