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Carlos Diego Ferreira wants to make a statement against former champion Anthony Pettis on January 18.
Rising lightweight Carlos Diego Ferreira wants to make the most of the opportunity he was given for his next fight, to take on the division’s former undisputed champion Anthony Pettis at UFC 246.
In order to make his desire come true, the Brazilian tells Combate he does not simply want to just win, but to dominate Pettis in every single aspect of the fight and have the single best performance of his professional MMA career up until now.
“I’m starting my camp now, but I hadn’t stopped training. Everything is going well, I’m focusing on my defense now, I’m paying attention to his kicks, but I’m also getting ready both for a striking match and a wrestling one. I’m doing really well and focused on nullifying his game.”
With his last loss being almost five years ago now, a KO defeat to Dustin Poirier, Carlos Diego Ferreira (16-2) now finds himself on a five-fight winning streak in the UFC. In his opinion, the 34-year-old believes the experience, even in defeat, was crucial to make him grow and evolve as a mixed martial artist.
“My losses to Beneil Dariush and Dustin Poirier taught me to trust my work more. In my first fights, I was always thinking about getting the job done quickly, but now I have a different mindset. I do what I like, so I have to make the most out of it. I love being in the Octagon, if I could, I would be there for more than 15 minutes. I know Pettis is a counter striker and has sharp jiu-jitsu. I have been paying attention and been training a lot in order to completely nullify those positive aspects and score another victory.”
During his current streak, Ferreira picked up wins over Olivier Aubin-Mercier, Jared Gordon, Kyle Nelson, Rustam Khabilov and most recently, back in September, Mairbek Taisumov. Now, the 34-year-old is scheduled to take on Anthony Pettis at UFC 246, on January 18, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The card is expected to be headlined by a welterweight bout between former UFC double champion Conor McGregor and perennial contender Donald Cerrone.