Strong-minded badasses get title shots. Mentally-fragile chumps get slept.
That’s according to former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, who collides with ex-bantamweight titleholder Cody Garbrandt as part of the upcoming UFC 300 pay-per-view (PPV) bonanza on Sat., April 13, 2024 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“We see he’s mentally fragile,” Figueiredo told MMA Fighting. “He doesn’t have a good head. We see he hasn’t come back after having a few losses, right? Every athlete fears getting touched. Many fighters like the in-fight but crumble when a hand lands. You have to be a badass, you need a strong mind to come back again. I think I’ll affect his mind by touching him, and he’s going to respect me more. I really want the knockout in this fight. This fight could lead me to a title, so I want to impress. It’s going to be an incredible fight.”
Figueiredo, 36, improved to 22-3-1 by defeating Rob Font at UFC Austin to close out 2023. The victory marked the first win for the Brazilian since moving up to bantamweight and a couple of big performances — starting with Garbrandt — could have “Daico” chasing a second title.
After an abysmal run from 2017-21 and a failed experiment at 125 pounds, the 32 year-old Garbrandt (13-5) was able to win back-to-back fights for the first time in over six years, outpointing Trevin Jones at UFC 285 before stopping longtime bantamweight veteran Brian Kelleher at UFC 296.
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