The UFC flyweight champion, Deiveson Figueiredo, will look for his third submission win of 2020 at UFC 256.
Despite being a bleak period for humanity, the year of 2020 was not all bad for some people in other aspects of life. One of those select few being the UFC flyweight champion, Deiveson Figueiredo, who had the best run of his Octagon career so far.
Firstly, ‘Deus da Guerra’ knocked out Joseph Benavidez, then shortly after submitted him in a rematch, due to a weight mishap making Deiveson ineligible to win the belt the first time around. Afterwards, the Brazilian made his first successful title defense by tapping out Alex Perez just last month.
Now, paired up against Brandon Moreno for another main event at UFC 256, Figueiredo tells Ag Fight that will be the icing on the cake for a year which began dark, but will end on a rather positive note.
“This year started off dark for everybody, but it’s starting to clear up now. It has started to shine. Everything is going well in my life. With these title defenses, I’ll make UFC history. I’ll be the guy with the fastest back-to-back title defenses, only 20 days apart. Also, my brother (bantamweight Francisco Figueiredo) is joining the UFC. All of this makes me very happy. This final stretch of 2020 has been wonderful for me. I’ll step into 2021 with the right foot. We will, me and my brother.”
When it comes to fight against Moreno itself, Deiveson is confident he will score yet another submission win. Figueiredo called out Moreno for his next title defense, and the champion wants to make sure to send another message at UFC 256.
“My goal is to submit Brandon Moreno. I want to submit him, I can’t get that out of my head. If he strikes with me, he’s going down, you better believe it. My striking is better than his. I’ll submit Moreno, you can expect it. In the first round. I don’t really like to fight for many rounds. I want to built this legacy, of being the guy who makes predictions and gets them right. That’s something I have, I wasn’t inspired by anyone else. I predict my fights, then I go out there and make it happen.”
Prior to both of his Benavidez and the Perez wins, Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1) also picked up victories over Tim Elliott and Alexandre Pantoja to complete his current five-fight streak. Before that, the 32-year-old suffered his sole professional loss, a March 2019 unanimous decision loss to Jussier Formiga.
Now, Deiveson Figueiredo is expected to take on Brandon Moreno for the UFC flyweight title at UFC 256. The card is scheduled to take place at the UFC Apex, in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 12.