Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images
Lightweight Carlos DIego Ferreira has some surprising plans for his future in the UFC.
It’s not everyday that you get to dominate and submit a former UFC champion, but that’s what lightweight Carlos Diego Ferreira managed to do against Anthony Pettis at UFC 246. In impressive fashion, the Brazilian kept ‘Showtime’ ever getting the time or open space in the Octagon to make use of the flashier techniques that once brought Pettis UFC gold.
Instead, Ferreira pressured Pettis all the way to a rear-naked choke submission win in the second round. However, unlike most fighters, his victory over Pettis (ranked #11 at lightweight before the loss) isn’t pushing the Brazilian to ask for another ranked opponent.
In an interview with Combate, Ferreira explained he would rather take on a few more non-ranked athletes in the near future, in order to make a name for himself among Brazilian fans and to stay busy.
“Right now, there is nobody that I want to face, I want to have one more fight outside of the top 15, I want to stay busy. If I enter the top 15 now, I’ll have to wait for someone to win or lose before I can fight again. I wouldn’t like to enter now. I want to fight outside of it a little longer, have lots of fight so I can make a name for myself. People still ask ‘Who is that guy? Is he Brazilian?’. They don’t know me enough.”
With the win over Pettis, Carlos Diego Ferreira (17-2) now rides a six-fight winning streak, with victories over Olivier Aubin-Mercier, Jared Gordon, Kyle Nelson, Rustam Khabilov, Mairbek Taisumov and the aforementioned Showtime. The 35-year-old’s last loss happened in April 2015, when he was knocked out by Dustin Poirier.