Deiveson Figueiredo

UFC 256 Preview: Deiveson Figueiredo – Brandon Moreno

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Tomorrow night in the headliner of UFC 256, we have a flyweight title clash between Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1) and Brandon Moreno (18-5-1). Both of these fighters just fought at UFC 255 which was three weeks ago.

That night, Figueiredo was able to successfully defend his title against Alex Perez. Perez was the fourth ranked flyweight contender, but the UFC gave him the title shot. Figueiredo was able to submit him in the first round.

It’s been an incredibly dominant year for the UFC champion. He started things out by starching Joseph Benavidez back in February. That fight was supposed to be for the vacant flyweight title, but Figueiredo missed weight.

They rematched in July and Figueiredo finished Benavidez quicker than he did the first time. A sensational 2020 has book the UFC flyweight champion on the map and he looks like a destroyer that the division has truly never had.

The challenger tomorrow night is Brandon Moreno. Despite being the top ranked contender in the UFC‘s flyweight division, Moreno didn’t get the title shot a few weeks ago. Instead, he took on Brandon Royval and he won by TKO.

Since returning to the UFC in September of last year, Moreno has gone 3-0-1 with wins over Royval and Jussier Formiga. Moreno is looking to become the UFC’s first Mexican born champion tomorrow night.

UFC 256 Prediction

This is such a fun matchup and honestly it’s the matchup we should have had at UFC 255. Moreno is clearly the top contender in the division if you ask me. He’s got very good striking skills and we’ve seen him show off his grappling.

What’s impressed me in his last few fights is how he beats opponents at their own game. People expected Brandon Royval to have the grappling advantage, yet Moreno dominated the grappling at UFC 255.

He’s strong wherever the fight goes and you know he’s going to be prepared. However, he has an extremely tall order tomorrow night. Deiveson Figueiredo is not your normal flyweight. For lack of a better term, he’s a destoryer.

He has incredible power for a flyweight. On top of that, he’s incredibly slick on the ground and can submit you from anywhere. Now that he has his weight under control, the UFC champion truly doesn’t have a weakness in his game.

What concerns me for Moreno is I’ve seen him struggle against power punchers. See the Alexandre Pantoja fight as an example. I’m worried that Figueiredo’s power is really going to throw off Moreno tomorrow night.

If Figueiredo wasn’t the champion, I truly believe that Brandon Moreno could be. However, Figueiredo is the champion and he stands in Moreno’s way tomorrow night. Unfortunately for “The Assassin Baby”, I don’t think the belts going anywhere.

Prediction: Deiveson Figueiredo by TKO – Round 3

Manel Kape to serve as UFC 256 backup

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For the second time this year, a UFC newcomer is going to serve as the backup for a title fight. Per Mike Heck of MMA Fighting, the promotion has decided to make Manel Kape (15-4) the backup fighter for next weekend’s UFC 256 flyweight title fight.

The UFC flyweight title fight pairs the top contender, Brandon Moreno, against champion, Deiveson Figueiredo. Kape was originally supposed to fight at UFC Vegas 17 on December 19th.

The promotion paired him against top five contender, Alexandre Pantoja. There is a ton of hype surrounding the UFC flyweight debut of Manel Kape. While not quite as big, it’s very similar to the Michael Chandler situation.

Kape is widely considered one of the best flyweights in the world, and obviously the UFC agrees. They were throwing him right into a fight with a guy in the top five. However, Pantoja tested positive for COVID-19 and the fight was cancelled.

There is talk that the promotion will look to rebook that fight in either February or March. However, the promotion wanted Kape to stay in Vegas and keep cutting weight. They decided to make Kape the backup just to ensure that the cursed UFC 256 card has a fallback option.

Year of the UFC backup

As mentioned above, this is the second time this year that a UFC newcomer will serve as a backup. Back in October, Michael Chandler was brought in to the be the backup for UFC 254 which featured the title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje.

Chandler flew to Fight Island and made weight for the contest. While the Khabib – Gaethje fight went through, Chandler was ready to go just to be safe. Dana White admitted a couple of weeks ago he’s slightly nervous about the weight cuts for the flyweights next weekend.

Both men just fought at UFC 255 and Figueiredo usually struggles to make 125 pounds. Well, the promotion decided to instill a backup option just to cover their bases. While we hope the main event happens as planned, Kape is a very solid fallback option if things go south.

UFC books Joseph Benavidez – Askar Askarov

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Joseph Benavidez, UFC

The UFC is finalizing a fantastic flyweight matchup for their March 6th card. MMA Junkie was first to report that the promotion is finalizing a matchup between former title challenger Joseph Benavidez (28-7), and Askar Askarov (12-0-1).

The fight is expected to take place on the main card of the UFC 259 PPV. Both men will enter the cage ranked inside the top 3 of the UFC‘s flyweight rankings. From a matchmaking perspective, it doesn’t get much better than this.

For Benavidez, he’s going to be looking to bounce back after back-to-back losses to the champion, Deiveson Figueiredo. The two first fought back in February where Benavidez was finished in the second round.

However, Figueiredo didn’t make weight so the UFC decided to run the fight back for the flyweight title. The second fight was even more dominating for Figueiredo who put Benavidez to sleep in the first round.

Despite being dominated twice by the champion, it should be known that Benavidez is still one of the very best in the world. He’s only lost to four men in his professional career: Figueiredo, Demetrious Johnson, Dominick Cruz, and Sergio Pettis.

The knock on Benavidez is that he’s always failed to win the big one. While consistently being one of the UFC‘s best, he’s 0-5 in title opportunities. With this fight on March 6th, he will look to climb the latter once again.

UFC 259’s Flyweight Clash

Standing in the way of Benavidez will be Askar Askarov. The Russian flyweight trains under Fighting Eagle in Dagestan which of course is the gym of UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Askarov is looked at as the potential next UFC champion to hail from Dagestan. So far, he’s made three appearances inside the octagon. He fought to a split draw against number one contender, Brandon Moreno. After that he defeated Tim Elliot and Alexandre Pantoja.

Askarov is the real deal and he’s very talented. This is not going to be an easy fight for either man. Either Benavidez will show everyone that he still has enough in the tank for one more UFC title run or Dagestan will flex it’s muscles once again.

What’s next for Alex Perez after UFC 255?

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This past weekend at UFC 255, Alex Perez (24-6) got his shot at the flyweight championship when he took on Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1). Perez started the contest off pretty well landing some decent shots.

He then shot in for a takedown on the UFC flyweight champion. Perez was deep on a single leg, but Figueiredo rolled to a leglock to get out of the position. Once Perez was out of the leglock, he followed Figueiredo to the ground.

However, Figueiredo did an incredible job of transitioning to a guillotine choke as soon as they hit the mat. Perez almost appeared out of the choke, but the UFC champion synched it up even tighter and Perez was forced to tap just two minutes into the fight.

It was an incredibly disappointing fight for the Dana White Contender Series veteran. Perez was the first fighter from the contender series to appear in a UFC title fight. However, it ended very quickly and with great disappointment.

After UFC 255, Perez will be forced to go back to the drawing board. The fortunate thing for him is that he really didn’t take any damage in the fight. Because he was submitted and didn’t really get hit, he should be able to turn around quickly.

What’s next after UFC 255?

In looking at the UFC’s flyweight rankings, there are a few good options out there for Alex Perez. One of the options that jumps out to me would be a fight with Askar Askarov (12-0-1) who is actually ranked ahead of Perez.

Askarov is coming off of a victory back on Fight Island over Alexandre Pantoja. The flyweight contender from Dagestan could honestly be one of the next in line for the title, however, there’s a bit of a log jam in the UFC‘s flyweight division.

We already know that Brandon Moreno will be getting the next title shot at UFC 256. Following that fight, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Cody Garbrandt fight the winner seeing as Garbrandt was originally supposed to fight Figueiredo at UFC 255.

With that, Askarov needs an opponent. Both him and Perez currently rank inside the top five so the matchup makes sense to me. Either way, I would expect a pretty quick turnaround for Perez given the way that the fight went on Saturday.

UFC books Deiveson Figueiredo – Brandon Moreno

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It looks like it’s going to be a quick turnaround for the flyweight division. Per ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, the UFC flyweight champion, Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1) has agreed to face top contender, Brandon Moreno (18-5-1) in a few weeks at UFC 256.

Last night at UFC 255, both fighters were successful in the first round. Figueiredo took on Alex Perez in the main event last night. After an explosive back and forth to start the action, Perez tried taking Figueiredo to the ground.

Figueiredo rolled to try to lock up a leg lock, however, Perez forced his way on top. Just after doing that, Figueiredo transitioned beautifully to a guillotine choke which he locked in tight. Perez was forced to tap and Figueiredo made his first UFC flyweight title defense.

Earlier in the featured prelim, Brandon Moreno took on Brandon Royval. The two top contenders had a very back and forth first round until the fight touched the mat. Moreno actually got the better of the grappling exchanges.

Late in the round, Royval’s shoulder popped out of place. He attempted to pop it back in, but Moreno sensed the wounded fighter. Moreno followed up with big ground shots and earned the TKO victory solidifying himself as the top UFC flyweight contender.

Quick Turnaround at UFC 256

After the event was over last night, Dana White said that he wanted to turn around the flyweight title very quickly. He didn’t say when, but he wanted the UFC‘s flyweight title to be up for grabs in December with boy guys getting first round finishes.

Helwani has reported that both men have agreed on UFC 256 on December 12th. It’s a three week turnaround, which is extremely quick. I’m very curious to see how the weight cut goes for Figueiredo who always seems to have trouble with the weight.

Two weight cuts that closely together will be interesting. Nevertheless, the UFC‘s flyweight king is willing to do it. The December PPV has lost two title fights, but this week the card has received a major boost.

The promotion has added this second title fight to go along with Petr Yan – Aljamain Sterling. The promotion also announced that Tony Ferguson would be taking on Charles Oliveira on the card. Big boost this weekend for UFC 256.

Cody Garbrandt wants the UFC flyweight champion in March

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Tonight at UFC 255, Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1) completely dominated his first challenger in Alex Perez (24-6). Figueiredo showed beautiful skills on the ground on his way to pulling off a guillotine choke in the first round.

It was a dominant performance by the UFC‘s flyweight champion. However, he didn’t fight the guy he was originally scheduled to face. Originally, Figueiredo had a different challenger. A former world champion.

That former world champion was former UFC bantamweight champion, Cody Garbrandt (12-3). Garbrandt was scheduled to take on Figueiredo in the main event of UFC 255. However, a torn bicep forced Garbrandt off the card.

Garbrandt was going to be making his flyweight debut fighting for the title. Back in the summer at UFC 250, Garbrandt snapped a three fight losing streak with a highlight knockout over Raphael Assuncao.

After the knockout, rumors started circulating around what Garbrandt wanted to do next. He decided he wanted to drop down and try to capture a second UFC title. He’s been healing up and he has a timeframe on when he wants his shot.

UFC flyweight title fight in March?

After the event concluded tonight, Garbrandt told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, “Alex Perez was just someone they gave Figueiredo to build up our fight more. I knock that guy (Figueiredo) out in the first or second round. I’ll be ready by March.”

It appears that Garbrandt has laid down the time table for his return to the UFC. The promotion has not said anything regarding Garbrandt’s status as a top contender since he fell out of this fight with the torn bicep.

After UFC 255, Dana White announced that Figueiredo would likely be fighting again in a few weeks. He told the media that he wanted Figueiredo to defend his title in December against top contender Brandon Moreno.

Both fighters had a first round finish at UFC 255. If the promotion does book that fight, Garbrandt seems primed to welcome the winner around March or April.

Deiveson Figueiredo subs Alex Perez in the first at UFC 255

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Tonight in the main event of UFC 255, the men’s flyweight title was on the line. Deiveson Figueiredo (19-1) was looking to defend his title for the first time against contender series veteran, Alex Perez (24-5).

Originally, Figueiredo was supposed to face former UFC bantamweight champion, Cody Garbrandt, in tonight’s main event. However, an injury to Garbrandt gave Perez the opportunity of a lifetime at championship gold.

Since fighting in the contender series a few years ago, Perez has only lost once in seven appearances in the UFC. He came into tonight on a three fight winning streak including an impressive TKO over Jussier Formiga in his last fight.

However, he had a tall order tonight in the flyweight champion. Figueiredo is an absolute monster and he’s really shown that in his last couple of wins. Figueiredo finished Joseph Benavidez twice in a row to capture UFC gold. He has all the makings of someone who can reign for a long time.

UFC 255 Recap: Figueiredo – Perez

Round 1

As the main event of UFC 255 got underway, Perez immediately opened with a big kick that missed. Figueiredo then landed a big power body kick to start the striking. Perez pushed forward with a combination but wasn’t able to land anything.

Figueiredo then landed a couple of additional big kicks. Perez shot in for a takedown and was working really hard to land it. Perez had Figueiredo’s legs high up in the air but then Figueiredo rolled for a leg lock.

Figueiredo couldn’t lock it in, and Perez ended up on top. However, he went right into a guillotine choke. It’s tight, but Perez comes close to getting out. Figueiredo locks it up even tighter and Perez is forced to tap.

Deiveson Figueiredo def. Alex Perez by Submission (Guillotine Choke) – Round 1

UFC 255 Preview: Deiveson Figueiredo – Alex Perez

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Tomorrow night at UFC 255, the promotion is showcasing both the men’s and the women’s flyweight divisions. Both champions will defend their titles and in the main event of the evening Deiveson Figueiredo (19-1) takes on Alex Perez (24-5).

The fight will mark the first official title defense for the UFC champion, Figueiredo. Back in February, Figueiredo knocked out Joseph Benavidez in a fight that was supposed to be for the UFC title.

However, Figueiredo missed weight and the title wasn’t on the line. Figueiredo then fought Benavidez again in July for the title and ran through him after making weight. Deiveson Figueiredo looks like an absolute force at flyweight.

Figueiredo is very big for the weight class and he has great skills everywhere. He’s got good striking with tremendous power and he’s incredibly slick on the ground. Figueiredo can lull you to sleep with his deliberate pace but his long arms and power catches opponents off guard.

Standing across from the champion will be contender series veteran, Alex Perez. Perez earned his shot in the UFC back in 2017 and has only lost to Joseph Benavidez since in seven fights with the promotion.

Perez also has a very well rounded skillset and he has tremendous leg kicks. Back at UFC 250, Perez finished Jussier Formiga with a heavy dose of calf kicks. Perez definitely has the skills to put up a fight against the champion.

UFC 255 Prediction

The UFC 255 main event should be a fun one for however long it lasts. Both Figueiredo and Perez are very well rounded fighters so I think it should be relatively even during some of the exchanges.

However, I think there’s a clear favorite in this one and that would be the champion. I’m expecting Perez to come out and try to start fast, but I expect Figueiredo to just be waiting and picking his shots.

There is no one at flyweight that possesses the power of Figueiredo. He also has this killer instinct and he seems to be taking his career seriously. I’m expecting Perez to have some moments early, but those will only come as Figueiredo is figuring out the fight.

I think in the second round, you’ll see the champion really start to settle in. Expect a back and forth early, but I see a big shot closing the show late in the second round tomorrow night. Figueiredo will retain his UFC title tomorrow night.

Prediction: Deiveson Figueiredo by TKO – Round 2

BREAKING: Deiveson Figueiredo gets new opponent at UFC 255

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UFC 255 was dealt a bit of a blow today. First reported by Combate and now confirmed by ESPN, Cody Garbrandt (12-3) is out of his title fight against flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo (19-1). Figueiredo will now defend against a new opponent.

The UFC‘s flyweight champion will now be taking on Alex Perez (24-5) per ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. Perez was already scheduled to be on the card taking on Brandon Moreno (17-5-1). However, Perez will now jump into the main event of the evening.

This is a tough blow for the former UFC bantamweight champion, Cody Garbrandt. Garbrandt had gone through a rough time over the past couple of years, but made a big return at UFC 250 where he knocked out Raphael Assuncao.

After that knockout victory, Garbrandt announced he wanted to move down to flyweight to try to capture a second UFC title. Garbrandt wasn’t the biggest guy at bantamweight, and he felt he could easily make 125. His title opportunity is going to have to wait now.

UFC 255’s New Main Event

What a golden opportunity this has turned into for Alex Perez. Perez is currently ranked fourth in the UFC‘s flyweight rankings. He will come into this title fight at 11-1 in his last 12 fights. The only loss coming to Joseph Benavidez back in 2018.

Perez has earned this title shot however, he’s going to have his hands full with the UFC‘s flyweight champion. Figueiredo will be making his first title defense after dominating Joseph Benavidez for the second time back in July.

Figueiredo was able to capture the undisputed UFC flyweight crown by choking Benavidez out cold in the first round. It was the second time this year that Figueiredo had stopped Benavidez cementing himself as the best flyweight in the UFC.

While it’s not the main event everyone wanted, it will still be a very solid flyweight title fight for the promotion. A huge opportunity for Perez and another tough blow for Cody Garbrandt.

BREAKING: UFC 255 headlined by Figuiredo – Garbrandt and Shevchenko – Maia flyweight title fights

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The UFC news is coming fast and furious today. Dana White told ESPN today that the promotion is going to have two flyweight title fights at UFC 255. Deiveson Figuiredo (19-1) will be taking on Cody Garbrandt (12-3) and for the women, Valentina Shevchenko (19-3) will be taking on Jennifer Maia (18-6-1).

Two UFC Flyweight Title Fights

This is massive news for the promotion. The UFC has said that they were working on Figuiredo’s first title defense, and he has a tall order. The former bantamweight champion, Garbrandt has teased moving down to flyweight.

He said recently in an interview that he wanted to go down and claim a second title. Figuiredo is coming off of a dominant victory over Garbrandt’s former teammate, Joseph Benavidez at UFC Fight Island 2.

This is a massive matchup and a very interesting one. TJ Dillashaw tried doing what Garbrand’s doing and showed a diminished chin in a first round TKO loss to Henry Cejudo. Will Garbrandt fair better?

Figuiredo looks like he can become a dominant champion in the UFC that can reign for a long time. However, Garbrandt is by far the biggest challenge that he could face at flyweight. This will be a fantastic matchup.

One of the most dominant fighters in the UFC is flyweight champion, Valentina Shevchenko. She has walked through who has stood in her way outside of Amanda Nunes.

She was scheduled to fight JoJo Calderwood back in June, but an injury forced the UFC champion to withdraw. Jennifer Maia defeated Calderwood last week to earn her title shot. The victory prompted a callout from the champion.

Two massive flyweight title fights headline a very impressive card from the UFC. The promotion is going to really be kicked into high gear for the rest of 2020. Who do you think will walk away from UFC 255 with flyweight gold?