UFC Rio has come and gone, and one former champion wants to get back in title contention.
In the UFC Rio co-headliner, Deiveson Figueiredo collided with Montel Jackson inside Farmasi Arena this past Saturday. Figueiredo entered the fight on a two-fight skid and knew he needed a win to remain relevant in the bantamweight division. The bout went the distance and “Figgy” was awarded the split decision victory.
Figueiredo appeared on the ESPN+ post-fight show, and he expressed his desire to compete in a potential No. 1 contender fight before 2025 comes to a close (via MMAJunkie).
“(I’ll fight) whenever UFC wants me to fight,” Figueiredo said. “Maybe year-end. If the UFC wants it, maybe it can set me up nicely to dispute for the belt.”
Figueiredo admitted that Jackson gave him a tougher time with his grappling defense than he was anticipating.
“It was kind of surprising how well he was able to defend my takedown attempts and everything,” Figueiredo said. “But we trained really hard. … He actually landed and connected a punch at the end of the first round, but nothing apart from that. I was able to put on a good fight.”
A former two-time UFC Flyweight Champion, Figueiredo found early success when he moved up to the 135-pound division. He was riding a three-fight winning streak at bantamweight with wins over Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt, and Marlon “Chito” Vera. Losses to Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen set Figueiredo back a bit, but he’s hoping the win over Jackson puts him one step closer to another title fight.
Current bantamweight titleholder Merab Dvalishvili is eyeing a rematch with Yan. Umar Nurmagomedov and Mario Bautista are set to clash in a potential title eliminator. That could leave Figueiredo needing at least one more win before he can get a No. 1 contender bout.