Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will once again venture away from the familiarity of its APEX facility and ship its cast and crew across the world for the upcoming UFC Macau fight card, locked and loaded for tomorrow night (Sat., Nov. 23, 2024) from inside Galaxy Arena in Macau, China, featuring a 135-pound headliner between former bantamweight champion Petr Yan and ex-flyweight titleholder Deiveson Figueiredo.
Like most “Fight Night” cards, you’ll need a subscription to ESPN+ to stream this weekend’s event (sign up here).
Before we dive into the main and co-main event, which includes the women’s strawweight showdown between Top 10 title contenders Xiaonan Yan and Tabatha Ricci, check out Andrew Richardson’s “X-Factor” breakdown for the rest of the UFC Macau main card by clicking here. Get all the latest “Yan vs. Figueiredo” odds and betting props courtesy of FanDuel right here. For UFC Macau live results and play-by-play click here.
Let’s get down to business.
135 lbs.: Petr Yan vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
Petr “No Mercy” Yan
Record: 17-5 | Age: 31 | Betting line: -300
Wins: 7 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 9 DEC | Losses: 0 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 4 DEC, 1 DQ
Height: 5’7” | Reach: 67” | Stance: Switch
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 5.14 | Striking accuracy: 53%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 4.36 | Striking Defense: 58%
Takedown Average: 1.73 (51% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 85%
Current Ranking: No. 3 | Last fight: Unanimous decision win over Yadong Song
Deiveson “Deus da Guerra” Figueiredo
Record: 24-3 | Age: 36 | Betting line: +240
Wins: 9 KO/TKO, 9 SUB, 6 DEC | Losses: 1 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 1 DEC
Height: 5’5“ | Reach: 68” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 3.01 | Striking accuracy: 55%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 3.39 | Striking Defense: 51%
Takedown Average: 1.68 (35% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 58%
Current Ranking: No. 5 | Last fight: Unanimous decision win over Marlon Vera
Petr Yan is now 13 fights into his UFC career and yet somehow we still haven’t figured out if he’s a legitimate champion stuck in a rut or an overblown hype machine that blew a gasket when the competition got tougher. One of the biggest issues facing “No Mercy,” who held the bantamweight title back in late 2020, is how long it takes him to find second gear, at least in terms of his offensive output. Every top level fighter needs time to read their opponent and adjust, but Yan seems to abandon all urgency in an era when judges routinely screw things up. From a technical perspective, you probably can’t get any better than Yan when it comes to effectively combining strong wrestling with technical striking, and this contest will be a monstrous test of his fight I.Q. — already in question after some boneheaded decisions throughout his career.
“I believe I matured,” Yan said during the UFC Macau media day. “Mentally, I’m on a different level now. It’s going to be a more serious approach now. I don’t see a big difference since he switched divisions. He has an unorthodox style. He has really strong sides that he used to get the wins, but I don’t see anything too special.”
“To be honest, I feel like I only have one real loss on my record,” Yan continued. “I believe I’m able to compete with all of the top guys and still challenge for the belt. Deiveson is a former champ, and Merab, the current champ, is saying he’s the only real deserving challenger for his belt, and for me, it’s a good opportunity to get this position — to beat him and to challenge for the belt instead of him.”
Deiveson Figueiredo would probably still be flyweight champion if he did a more effective job at maintaining his weight. There’s also the argument that he was never the right size for a career at 125 pounds, despite standing just 5’5” tall. Now more comfortable in the higher weight class, Figueiredo has really found his groove, hacking and slashing his way through the 135-pound ranks to capture three straight wins against very tough competition — including one former champion and one former title challenger. The drawback to the bantamweight switch will be his size, not really an issue in his recent fights but against an aggressive fighter like Yan, the Brazilian could find himself flat on his back for a good portion of their 25-minute fight. Remember, “No Mercy” was 7-for-7 in takedowns against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259 and only gets stronger as the fight goes on. How much success Figueiredo has may boil down to how much damage he can do early on, assuming he swings for the fences.
“I’m very hungry,” Figueiredo told Sherdog.com. “I’ll get into the Octagon, and I’ll prove I’m the better fighter. I want to go for the [bantamweight] belt. I feel a great sense of accomplishment from all I’ve done in both weight classes. I have nothing else to prove. Now I’m putting on shows for the fans in the weight class above. I’m here to fight, and I’m here to win.”
“We’ve studied [Yan] extensively,” Figueiredo added. “His game is full of holes. He doesn’t come from wrestling or jiu-jitsu. He likes to strike. I am a striker. We’re confident the fight will play out on the feet. I have many more weapons. I’ll be using them all against him. I’m someone who undergoes a transformation when stepping into the Octagon. I go in there looking to knock people out. I work hard, and I train with no limits.”
It’s hard to call Yan a lock until we see some consistency out of “No Mercy” against the top of the 135-pound food chain. His UFC 299 win over Yadong Song was a promising start, I’m just worried about his recent decision to rework his coaching team. That means one of two things: he was frustrated with his gameplans and felt they were counterintuitive to his instincts inside the cage, or he just wants someone to blame for losing. The former has Yan surviving a rocky start and coasting a clear decision at UFC Macau. The latter sends him to the shadow realm in the opening frame.
Prediction: Yan def. Figueiredo by decision
115 lbs.: Yan Xiaonan vs. Tabatha Ricci
Yan “Fury” Xiaonan
Record: 18-4, 1 NC | Age: 35 | Betting line: -190
Wins: 8 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 9 DEC | Losses: 1 KO/TKO, 1 SUB, 2 DEC
Height: 5’5“ | Reach: 63” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 4.97 | Striking accuracy: 44%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 3.66 | Striking Defense: 58%
Takedown Average: 1.00 (73% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 62%
Current Ranking: No. 2 | Last fight: Unanimous decision loss to Weili Zhang
Tabatha “Baby Shark” Ricci
Record: 11-2 | Age: 29 | Betting line: +160
Wins: 1 KO/TKO, 3 SUB, 7 DEC | Losses: 1 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 1 DEC
Height: 5’1“ | Reach: 61” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 4.63 | Striking accuracy: 38%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 5.30 | Striking Defense: 58%
Takedown Average: 2.99 (38% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 81%
Current Ranking: No. 10 | Last fight: Unanimous decision win over Angela Hill
Yan Xiaonan is currently ranked No. 2 in the strawweight division and it would be difficult to suggest she hasn’t earned that spot, especially when you work your way down the rest of the Top 10 and analyze all the names she previously beat. “Fury” has eight knockouts in her pro career but just one under the UFC banner, a May 2023 drubbing against former champion Jessica Andrade. Xiaonan has good technical striking and high output, landing nearly five significant strikes per minute. She also has underrated wrestling, scoring five of six takedown against Karolina Kowalkiewicz in their “Fight Night” war just a few years back. “Fury” is the kind of patient, unassuming fighter who will quietly drown her opponents in volume and they may not even realize they’re in trouble until the third round. High-profile losses to Zhang Weili and Carla Esparza exposed a clear ceiling for Xiaonan; but let’s also consider the level of competition.
“I’m very excited and happy, because it’s been many years since the last time I fought in my home country, so now I’m just very happy,” Yan told UFC.com. “My mood is happy and excited, but I have to tell myself, I have to control the feeling so I can explode on Saturday night. There’s a lot of friends that are coming to watch my fight in Macau. I’m very excited, and also, I’m very nervous.”
“My opponent, Tabatha Ricci, is good at moving forward, giving the pressure and doing some judo skills,” Yan continued. “Me and my team, we have a strategy on how to play against her. And I think if we play well, we can take the victory. I think it will be a very fantastic fight, because she has heavy forward pressure. And for me, I also like to push forward, push the pace. I’m also a finisher, so I think our fight will just light up the whole stadium.”
Tabatha Ricci has performed admirably at 115 pounds considering her size disadvantage. As with most opponents, the Brazilian will give up several inches in both height and reach, but those deficits did little to prevent her from capturing victories over the likes of Angela Hill and Tecia Pennington, among others. In fact, “Baby Shark” has now won six of her last seven, with the only loss during that span coming by way of split decision opposite Loopy Godinez. Ricci is a formidable wrestler, scoring nearly three takedowns per 15 minutes of action. That said, her 38-percent accuracy suggests her success is more spam volume than skill and Xiaonan has pretty solid takedown defense. The key to victory will rest in Ricci’s ability to put (and keep) the hometown hero on her back leg, not an unattainable goal in a three-round fight.
“We actually trained together at Team Alpha Male once,” Ricci told UFC.com. “She’s a very disciplined athlete, and she’s very strong. I remember training with her; I was like, damn, this girl is strong. She has a very good standup game and her right hand is pretty powerful, so we’ve been working on that, but we’re also watching her fights to see if she has some holes in her grappling. Of course, she’s getting better; she’s professional, so we all practice where we need to improve. I think she’s still learning some grappling jiu-jitsu, and this is what I do the best, so I think that will be a good path for me.”
“I like to be the underdog and fighting here in her place actually pushes me more,” Ricci continued. “I want to prove everybody wrong, that that’s my place and I think champs are made for those opportunities, so I’m very excited. I want the title shot. That’s what I want. For me, it is not an option fighting anyone below in the ranking, but I want to have the opportunity, and beating Yan I’ll prove to everybody that I’m ready for the title shot.”
Ricci has proven she can overcome her size disadvantage and beat bigger opponents, I just don’t know if she can accomplish that feat against a fighter as strong and as skilled as Xiaonan. “Fury” may be her toughest foe since losing to Manon Fiorot back in June 2021 and assuming Xiaonan doesn’t get overwhelmed by the moment, this is likely to be her fight to lose.
Prediction: Yan def. Ricci by decision
Don’t forget to check out the rest of the UFC Macau main card predictions RIGHT HERE.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Macau fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card matchups which are scheduled to begin at 3 a.m. ET, followed by the remaining main card balance on ESPN+ at 6 a.m. ET.
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