Video: JIMMIE “EL TERROR” RIVERA: I AM THE DIVISIONS DARK HORSE

On Saturday, July 22nd on UFC on FOX 25, No. 5 ranked UFC bantamweight Jimmie El Terror” Rivera (21-1) from Ramsey, New Jersey will take a step closer to a title when he faces knockout artist Thomas Almeida (23-1) from Sao Paulo Brazil at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on Long Island.

Both men have nearly identical records sporting one loss each but the difference is Rivera got his in second pro fight dating as far back as 2008, while Almeida just two fights ago against current bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt was knocked out in the first round back in May 2016.

Almeida got back on track adding another knockout to his resume recently by knocking out Albert Morales back in November 2016 before calling out the divisions over achiever Rivera who has a 19 win streak with his last loss going back as far 2008. With almost 10 years experience, Jimmie has held titles for several other promotions organizations like King of Cage, Ring of Combat and has fought on Bellator and WSOF.

Despite the danger in facing a guy like Almeida who sports a high knockout ratio, Rivera feels that his versatility will be the difference in the fight “You have to your guard up you have to come in shape, you got to be smart about it and think that’s why I am at a different level. You got to be a smart fighter and you got to have that physical attribute too as well and that mentality.
Rivera also believes no one has his work ethic and that’s what makes him more complete fighter “I am the Dark Horse of the division. I am coming beat everybody and take that belt. Everybody can say whatever they want to say but at the end of the day, it’s only me and that other person in that cage.

After losing to Dennis Bermudez in the preliminary bout on the Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs Team Miller. It took him 5 years to get back into the UFC, making his debut by knocking out Marcus Brimage in the first round. Rivera went on to beat Pedro Munhoz (split dec), Luri Alcantara (unanimous dec) and a guy he watched growing up Urijah Faber (unanimous dec). Rivera’s impressive win over Faber was his exclamation point as being next in line to challenging for the bantamweight title strap and views Almeida as a real threat “I have nothing against the guy but when he gets in the cage it’s all business and I am going to tear his head apart”