UFC Champ Deiveson Figueiredo Expects Brazilians to Hold 5 Belts After UFC 283

The Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight king expects his countrymen and women to reign supreme in 2023.

Preparing for his record fourth straight match against one single opponent, Deiveson Figueiredo (21-2-1) is nearly ready to take on Brandon Moreno (20-6-2) once more. The two flyweight titleholders – Moreno claimed the interim strap against Kai Kara France last July – will unify their belts in the co-main event of UFC 283 on Jan. 21. Ahead of this historic battle, “Daico” revealed to Sherdog in an interview on Thursday that he has made some changes in his preparation. Most notably for the champion is that he went home.

“I tried to adapt in Chute Boxe with my family, but it was too cold during the winter time in Sao Paulo and they didn’t get adapted, so I decided to return home [to Para],” Figueiredo admitted.

But even being far from Sao Paulo, Brazil, or his previous camp of Fight Ready in Phoenix, Figueiredo guaranteed that the excellent connections he made with both ex-champ Henry Cejudo and coach Diego Lima will never be lost. Both proved are essential to this camp, even from a distance.

“I always talk with both of them,” Figueiredo explained. “Charles [Oliveira] and [coach] Diego [Lima] will be with me in Rio. Cejudo sent [Guillermo] Torres to help me out with my wrestling skills here in Para.”

While a few athletes have matched up against one another four times or more in the history of the sport, none had ever met for the tetralogy all in the same organization. The two men are 1-1-1 against one another, and Figueiredo believes he has changed enough to make this unusual occurrence different from the three that preceded it.

“It will be our fourth fight, but the fans can expect a whole different one,” the champ boasted. “I feel Moreno is training karate, but I also have some surprises for him in this fight. I have much more weapons than him and will do a totally different game.”

The first three fights took place in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Anaheim, California, with no match being quite a home game for the two competitors. This fourth contest will be held in Rio de Janeiro, in the home nation of the defending champion. “Daico” expects that the raucous crowd in the Jeunesse Arena will give both he and countryman Glover Teixeira an advantage. If everything plays out as he believes, Brazil will soon celebrate five UFC titles across the flyweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, women’s bantamweight and women’s featherweight divisions.

“I fought him like I was in Mexico, once the amount of Mexicans in the USA are really big, now it’s my time to have the unique energy of Brazilians cheering pushing me and Glover. We will rule Rio, and [I] guarantee the record of belts Brazil ever had in UFC [five], by the end of UFC 283.”

Having prepared for a Mexican adversary for so long, Figueiredo admitted that he was curious about his foe’s home country. His wrestling coach hails from Mexico, and coach Cejudo flies its flag sometimes, so he plans on traveling there after the fateful battle.

“I always had a dream to know Mexico,” Figueiredo said wistfully. “My wrestling coach, sent by Cejudo, is also Mexican, and I’m planning to finally go there after this fourth fight with Moreno.”

Cejudo’s recent activity, however, might cause a change in Figueiredo’s plans. Initially, the flyweight champion expected that he would move up to bantamweight, so as to alleviate the tough weight cut to 125 pounds. With new expectations that his coach, Cejudo, will return to the UFC’s bantamweight division, the 35-year-old thinks he might stick around at flyweight a while longer.

“That’s my weight division, and after winning [against] Moreno, I must give the revenge to Alexandre [Pantoja]. Cejudo will take very good care of the bantamweight [title] that he never lost. He will knock out Aljamain [Sterling] and get it back,” the champ concluded.