Deiveson Figueiredo knows what gold is. The Brazilian He was flyweight champion (125 pounds or 56.6 kilos) of the UFC twice, so he is used to success. However, he was stripped of his crown by Brandon Moreno. That, and the difficulties he had in making weight meant that he had to move up to the bantamweight category (135 pounds or 61.2 kilos). Here at the moment he remains undefeated, and beating a former champion of this division like Petr Yan would be a hit on the table.
This clash is a duel between athletes who were champions, the elite of mixed martial arts (MMA), so it has every chance of being a great fight. With both within the top five of the division, this fight can give a challenger, or at least, the next one after Umar NurmagomedovKhabib’s cousin, ranked second in the ranking.
Figueiredo arrived at the UFC in June 2017, with a perfect record of 11 fight wins. He finished Marco Beltran as a debut, and accumulated three other victories. With four wins in the UFC (three of them finished) he had to know defeat, after losing to Jussier Formiga by decision. However, this only lit the flame of the Brazilian, who beat Alexandre Pantoja (current flyweight champion) and Tim Elliott.
With this came his starting opportunity against Joseph Benavidez. Although he won the fight in the second round, he lost on the scale, so was not eligible to win the title. But in the rematch he gave weight, and this time he submitted Benavidez to become UFC flyweight champion. After defending him against Alex Pérez, Brandon Moreno would appear. In their first fight there was a draw. In the second, the Mexican would take the victory, while in the third Figueiredo would recover his belt. With a draw and a loss for each, the fourth clash between the two took place. Moreno would be the winner, and the Brazilian would decide to move up in weight.
In this new chapter of his career, the God of War (nickname by which Deiveson Figueiredo is known) has started on the right foot. He beat Rob Font, submitted former champion Cody Garbrandt and won by decision against Chito Vera, who had just fought for the championship. Furthermore, in this fight he managed to sit Vera down with one blow, something that no one had been able to do before. If he wins against Petr Yan, the 36-year-old Brazilian would have a exceptional resume. Former champion in another division, and with four consecutive wins (two against former champions), Figueiredo could be the next contender.
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