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For UFC lightweight Carlos Diego Ferreira, the cancellation of UFC events and the COVID-19 pandemic has put a serious cramp in some of his other plans.
UFC lightweight contender Carlos Diego Ferreira can’t afford to wait around for too long before he gets another fight.
Once scheduled to take on Drew Dober on May 2, Ferreira saw the fight scrapped after the entire card ended up cancelled in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Although the UFC recently announced three new cards that will take place in May, in Jacksonvile, FL, Ferreira’s name has not appeared on any of them just yet.
While there’s never a good time for a virus to sweep the world, the timing couldn’t have been much worse for the Texas-based Brazilian. A father of three currently living with his mother-in-law, the Ferreira was counting on his fight purse from the Dober fight in order to finish building his own home—a project he will have to postpone until he can get back to training and get another bout booked.
“I’m waiting [without training] because the gym is closed.“ Diego told Combate. “I want to train, but my city won’t allow it. I’m trying to do my best to train and stay in shape. I hope this passes soon, I want to train, I want life to go back to normal. Meanwhile, I hope this happens as soon as possible, because what I really want to do is fight. They way my house is, I really need this financial help from the UFC so I can finish building it. I’m living at my mother-in-law’s house, I only need to finish the interior, the furniture and the painting. Thank God it’s already standing on its own. It’s going well.”
While he waits for a his next chance to compete, Ferreira made it clear that he would be happy to be matched up with Drew Dober again. However, he’d also really love to take on fan favorite action fighter Paul Felder.
“At the moment, I have no fights booked. I had that Dober fight, but I don’t know now, we didn’t seal the deal. I hope I can get a new date soon. I’d really like to fight him. If it doesn’t happen, I would also really like to fight Paul Felder, he is coming off of a great fight, he would be a great opponent for me.”
Currently on a six-fight winning streak, Carlos Diego Ferreira (17-2) has been racking up victories over strong UFC competition, including Mairbek Taisumov, Rustam Khabilov, and most recently, back in January, former champion Anthony Pettis. The 35-year-old’s last loss came back in April 2015, when he was knocked out by Dustin Poirier.