Deiveson Figueiredo believes he should be next in line for the bantamweight title with a stoppage of Marlon Vera at UFC Abu Dhabi, but he doesn’t expect Sean O’Malley to be holding the belt.
The former UFC flyweight champion beat Rob Font and then finished Cody Garbrandt since moving up to bantamweight in 2023. Heading into Saturday’s event, Figueiredo is happy to be fighting a few miles away from where he first won his UFC flyweight title in July 2020, only this time to cement his position as the next man in line to challenge the winner of the Sept. 14 title match between O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306.
“This is where I won the belt, and to be fighting ‘Chito’ here and hopefully win again, this city has shown it brings me luck already,” Figueiredo told MMA Fighting. “I hope this fight takes me to a title shot. [Vera] has fought the best of the division, he just fought for the belt now, and I need to test myself against the champion — and for that, I need to beat him. I really want the UFC to give me this opportunity for the belt so I can prove that I can 100 percent take that belt.”
In 33 fights as a professional, Vera has never been finished before — an impressive feat considering the list of athletes he’s faced, from Jose Aldo and Cory Sandhagen to O’Malley to John Lineker. “Chito” has a solid hit list of his own knockouts as well, including O’Malley, Dominick Cruz, and Frankie Edgar. Figueiredo wants to give him taste of that medicine.
“Beating ‘Chito,’ a submission or even a knockout, would 100 percent take me to a title fight,” Figueiredo said. “Knocking him out would be the icing on the cake, because he has never been knocked out or submitted before and he has fought the best of the division. That would be a mega accomplishment. I want to do that, I want to be the first to stop him.”
“I’ve seen many paths to doing that,” Figueiredo continued. “We’ve studied him for two months and we see he’s tough, but people make wrong strategies and game plans. We have a game plan that no doubt about it, if we’re 100 percent on point, we can beat him in two rounds. I have the speed advantage. Closing the distance, being shorter than him, will favor me. I hope we can get a big knockout over him on fight night.”
O’Malley won a dominant decision over Vera in his most recent title defense, avenging his sole loss in MMA, and now faces Dvalishvili at Las Vegas’ Sphere to continue his reign as 135-pound champ. But Figueiredo doesn’t see it as a favorable clash for the titleholder.
“If Merab stays on the outside, which is hard to happen, it favors Sean O’Malley. He can box well, do that ballet style he does so well, and no surprise, he’s the champion, but it’s hard to keep the fight on the feet against Merab,” Figueiredo said. “He closes the distance and works against the cage and that’s very dangerous, he can take you down at any moment. It’s a boring fight, and with that game he can get the champion tired. I believe [Dvalishvili] wins the belt.”
Figueiredo plans to volunteer to be the back-up fighter for UFC 306 and sit front row at the Sphere to watch the five-round contest.
“I’m here and I’m willing,” Figueiredo said. “I would be more than happy if they put me as the back-up. I will be there ready to fight. I was the champion [at flyweight] and now I’m fighting a former contender. I’ll definitely be next for the fight after beating him. I want to be there in the front row for this fight between O’Malley and Merab.”
