Deiveson Figueiredo aims to knock out ‘mentally fragile’ Cody Garbrandt at UFC 300
Cody Garbrandt was knocked out four times over a span of four years between 2017-21, amounting to a 1-5 UFC run. Deiveson Figueiredo wants to add to that at UFC 300.
Figueiredo, the former UFC flyweight champion who was victorious in his bantamweight debut over Rob Font this past December, said on MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca podcast that Garbrandt is not mentally strong enough to deal with any in-cage adversity.
“We see he’s mentally fragile,” Figueiredo said of April 13 opponent. “He doesn’t have a good head. We see he hasn’t come back after having a few losses, right?”
Garbrandt claimed the UFC bantamweight title in 2016 with a masterful performance over 135-pound legend Dominick Cruz. Then, he suffered three knockouts in a row in bouts with T.J. Dillashaw (twice) and Pedro Munhoz.
“No Love” rebounded with a first-round victory over Raphael Assuncao before losing to Font and Kai Kara-France in 2021. Now Garbrandt enters UFC 300 finally on a roll against after wins over Trevin Jones and Brian Kelleher, but Figueiredo likes what he sees on tape.
“Every athlete fears getting touched,” Figueiredo said. “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.”
Figueiredo and Garbrandt were booked to face off in a 125-pound contest back in 2020, back when “Deus da Guerra” held UFC flyweight gold, but Garbrandt suffered an injury while training for what would’ve been his flyweight debut.
Now meeting at 135 pounds, Figueiredo said he feels much better cutting less weight and vowed to go for Garbrandt’s head at the T-Mobile Arena.
“I really want the knockout in this fight,” Figueiredo said. “This fight could lead me to a title, so I want to impress. It’s going to be an incredible fight. Cody moves a lot and gives his all in the first round, and I have that same aggressive style. It’s going to be an intense fight.”
The Brazilian talent inked a new six-fight deal ahead of UFC 300, and feels he can finally be more active inside the cage now that he’s done with his hard weight cuts.
“Cody is an excellent athlete, and we’re both former champions,” Figueiredo said. “I feel healthy in this division, and I was able to show that in my first fight [against Font]. He didn’t feel healthy at the time [at flyweight], and now we’re going to fight. I’m going to his division, where he feels better, and we’ll put on a great fight. I’m sure fans will love this fight.”