A month after seeing UFC CEO Dana White say that Umar Nurmagomedov was next for Merab Dvalishvili’s bantamweight title, Deiveson Figueiredo intends to change his mind with a big win over Petr Yan in China.
Figueiredo, a former champion at flyweight, headlines UFC Macau against the ex-bantamweight titleholder looking to improve to 4-0 in just over 11 months since moving up to 135 pounds, and hopes that’s enough to secure a shot at a second UFC belt.
“It will be four wins in a row after Petr Yan and the UFC will definitely give me the opportunity to fight for the belt,” Figueiredo said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “Merab has already called me out. Petr Yan was calling me out since I moved up in weight, and now I’ve decided to accept it. We’ll fight. [He] has nowhere to run anymore. We’ll settle that Saturday.”
Nurmagomedov is 18-0 as a professional fighter with half a dozen UFC victories, including a trio of finishes over Raoni Barcelos, Brian Kelleher and Sergey Morozov. In his most recent appearance, the Russian claimed a decision over Cory Sandhagen. Meanwhile, Figueiredo is 3-0 at bantamweight against Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt and Marlon Vera.
“Umar wasn’t tested that much yet,” Figueiredo said. “He fought a high-level fighter now, but it’s a match-up that doesn’t favor [Sandhagen]. He’s more of a striker that knows wrestling, but isn’t a finisher either. I think he should fight someone else that offers him danger.”
“Merab’s plan is to fight me. He’s made it pretty clear already,” he continued. “He wants to fight me, he wants to test himself against me. I want to win this fight now so we can fight for the belt. I want this opportunity against him, too. Dana, send me the contract that I’ll be ready to fight him. I’m 36 and I have no time to waste. I’ll stay active after this fight, just waiting for my opportunity when they call me.”
Figueiredo must get past Yan in a five-round main event in China first, though, and he sees “No Mercy” as the perfect match-up style-wise. Yan won a decision over Yadong Song in his most recent appearance back in March to rebound from three straight decision defeats to Aljamain Sterling, Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili.
“Petr Yan has good takedown defense and excellent striking but we can see he doesn’t know grappling,” Figueiredo said. “He has zero grappling, zero jiu-jitsu, so his opponents work on that. Merab did that, took him down at will. His losses were all on that. I, for one, am very unpredictable. I’ve worked a lot on my striking. He’s an excellent striker, but I’ve worked on making sure he can’t touch me and I capitalize on his mistakes. He opens himself a lot, and we worked to make sure we knock him out and earn our shot at the belt.”
