Preview: UFC Rio ‘Oliveira vs. Gamrot’

Men’s Bantamweights

Deiveson Figueiredo (24-5-1, 13-5-1 UFC) vs. Montel Jackson (15-2, 9-2 UFC)

Odds: Jackson (-300); Figueiredo (+250)

Former flyweight champ Figueiredo looks to get his bantamweight run back on track against the red-hot Jackson, winner of six straight in one of the UFC’s deepest divisions.

When Figueiredo elected to move up to 135 pounds after his classic four-fight rivalry with Brandon Moreno, it made perfect sense. The cut to flyweight had always been a rough one for the chiseled Brazilian, and as he pushed into his late 30s, it did not figure to get any easier. The early results vindicated his decision, as he won his first three fights in his new weight class and appeared to be cruising towards at least a shot at two-division glory.

Figueiredo’s progress came to a halt—or hit a speed bump, at least—in back-to-back losses to Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen, but those were Top 5 opponents and Figueiredo was competitive against both, at least until the fight-ending knee injury against Sandhagen. “Deus da Guerra” now needs to get back on track, show that the knee is fine and he is still a factor in the title picture at 37, and derail the Jackson train.

Figueiredo’s approach is so aggressive that in some ways, it’s surprising that he is still around and competitive. He is a kickboxer who thrives in the pocket, unloading two-fisted punching flurries and chopping low kicks that he can fire off in surprisingly close quarters. His power, some of the best in the flyweight division, seems to have carried over to bantamweight, as he showed in dropping the ultra-durable Marlon Vera.

He is capable of slip-and-rip boxing, using head movement to get the better of phone-booth exchanges like a bantamweight Dustin Poirier or Derrick Lewis, but when tagged, he is prone to biting down on his gumshield and firing back with big looping haymakers, more like a miniature Wanderlei Silva. It makes for exciting fights, no doubt, but it has also cost him against more composed strikers like Yan and Moreno. It has also made him dependent on his durability which, while legendary, already appeared to be fading by the time of his exit from the 125-pound division.

Figueiredo is similarly aggro as a ground fighter. He is an effective wrestler who uses a basic repertoire of shots that he finishes with power and persistence rather than finesse, but when he ends up on top he is a nightmare, throwing vicious punches and elbows while working to move to mount or force his opponent to turn his back, at which point the fight is effectively over.

Jackson has managed to climb the bantamweight ladder relatively quietly, but if he can get past Figueiredo on Saturday, the only quiet thing about it will be the Rio crowd. “Quik” is, as his nickname suggests, a fast-twitch athlete of the highest order. He is also a huge bantamweight—he might be a shade shorter than Sandhagen but he looks 10 pounds heavier—and a well-rounded martial artist who is dangerous anywhere the fight goes.

The obvious standout quality is Jackson’s power, which is the best in the bantamweight division and some of the best in the UFC, pound-for-pound. Almost everyone he has touched cleanly with his right cross or fade-back left has gone down, and several of them, including Da'Mon Blackshear and Rani Yahya, didn’t get back up. While he excels as an outside fighter, maximizing his reach and speed with long straight punches, he is also dangerous the clinch, where he uses his strength and leverage to pull foes into the path of knee and elbow strikes.

As a lanky bantamweight who uses lots of kicks, Jackson has been susceptible to being taken down, including by the aging Yahya, but he is defensively sound on the ground and does not waste time there, looking instead to get back up and back to work. His two UFC losses were both competitive, but both saw him taken out of his game by opponents who used takedowns, and the threat of the takedown, to blunt Jackson’s striking assault.

Figueiredo could follow that kind of path to a win over Jackson—his wrestling is especially effective when he times his takedowns to meet oncoming strikers—but it would require a level of discretion and durability that he no longer possesses. The move to bantamweight bought “Deus da Guerra” a new lease on life, but he had been showing signs of fading even two years ago. The new lease on life is likely to expire at UFC Rio, as Jackson uses his huge advantages in size, speed and power to hit the former champ harder than he has ever been hit before. Jackson by first-round knockout.



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Oliveira vs. Gamrot
Figueiredo vs. Jackson
Luque vs. Alvarez
Diniz vs. Pinto
Ramos vs. Ofli
Almeida vs. Aswell
The Prelims