UFC 256 Preview: Figueiredo Vs. Moreno

After securing a win in under two minutes at UFC 255, flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo plans to make a fast turnaround in an attempt to successfully defend his title just one month later at UFC 256 on Dec. 12. Figueiredo will be putting his title on the line against top 125-pound contender Brandon Moreno, who is coming off his own UFC 255 victory.

Figueiredo and Moreno are making such quick returns to the Octagon in an effort to save the pay-per-view event, which has lost three planned title matches as welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes and bantamweight champion Petr Yan were all forced off the card. Figueiredo will be making his second defense of the flyweight title he won in a vacant title bout with Joseph Benavidez earlier in the year and successfully defended in November against Alex Perez. A victory over Moreno would move Figueiredo to 4-0 in 2020, and may be considered a contender for Fighter of the Year.

In the co-main event, Tony Ferguson will be returning to the Octagon for the first time since his tragic loss to Justin Gaethje in May, a loss that cost him the shot at Khabib Nurmagomedov and the UFC lightweight title. Ferguson will be going up against Charles Oliveira, the man who currently holds the record for most submissions in UFC history and is tied for most finishes overall in the history of the organization. Oliveira will bring a seven-fight winning streak into the Octagon. Ferguson, meanwhile, had a 12-fight winning streak broken in the loss to Gaethje.

UFC 256 Fight Card Odds

  • Deiveson Figueiredo (c) -300 vs. Brandon Moreno +240, flyweight championship
  • Tony Ferguson -170 vs. Charles Oliveira +145, lightweights

UFC 256 Info

  • Date: Saturday, Dec. 12
  • Location: UFC Apex — Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Start time: 10 p.m. ET (Main card) 
  • How to watch: ESPN+ PPV

UFC 255 Results: Figueiredo Wins First Title Defense In Under 2 Minutes

Deiveson Figueiredo’s first title defense in the UFC was a quick and successful one.

At UFC 255 last Saturday, UFC flyweight champion Figueiredo submitted Alex Perez with a guillotine choke at 1:57 of the very first round. Early on, Figueiredo and Perez exchanged hard significant strikes on the feet. When Perez caught a Figueiredo kick, the champion pulled for a leg submission. When Perez tried to pounce on his downed opponent, he rolled right into Figueiredo’s guard and was swiftly choked out.

In his first title defense, Figueiredo extended his winning streak to five straight victories. Over the span of his 10 UFC fights, seven out of those ten resulted in a finish, including a  title-clinching submission on former champion Joseph Benavidez in a match for the vacant belt on July 19th. With this loss, Perez had his three-fight winning streak broke. His only other promotional loss came to four-time UFC title holder Benavidez in November 2018.

Perez was not Figueiredo’s original scheduled opponent. Figueiredo was booked to fight former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt. However, Garbrandt pulled out of the fight in October due to health issues.

During this fight card, there was a number one contender match for who is going to face Figueiredo next for the Flyweight belt. In this preliminary fight, Brandon Moreno continued to succeed in the organization, but in an unusual fashion. This action-packed fight between Moreno & Brandon Royval ended after Royval suffered a shoulder injury in the closing seconds of Round 1. The fight was stopped just before the first round ended at the 4:59 mark when Royval was in excruciating pain after his shoulder popped out of his socket. He stopped defending himself from Moreno’s ground-and-pound which resulted in the referee stopping the fight.

Prior to his win, Moreno walked up to the cameras while in the cage still and continued to say “I want my belt.” With this victory Moreno was able to get his shot at the title and will be fighting Figueiredo in the main event at UFC 256 on Dec. 12.

UFC 255 Preview: Figueiredo VS. Perez

The UFC  is gearing up for what could be the biggest night in the history of the flyweight division as not one, but TWO championship titles will be on the line in the UFC 255 PPV event. Headlining the espn+  main card, which takes place this Saturday night inside APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, Alex Perez will step in to challenge Deiveson Figueiredo for the 125-pound belt. Before that five-round showcase gets underway, women’s flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko will attempt to dominate the uprising of surging division contender Jennifer Maia.

There will be no easy outs for Figueiredo in his quest to build a flyweight title reign. Even though former bantamweight king Cody Garbrandt pulled out with an injury, red-hot Alex Perez expects to be a formidable out having won 7 of 8 inside the Octagon and fresh off a pair of stoppage wins. While both are well-rounded, Perez’s preference of standing and trading could lead to his downfall as Figueiredo brings more firepower to the dance and seems ready to destroy anyone who steps in front of him.

Perez is a talented fighter with the ability to get a finish against almost anyone at 125 pounds. That said, Figueiredo is the better finisher and slightly more dangerous both on the feet and on the ground. Perez will likely look to push the pace, and that means he’ll be putting himself directly in danger of falling victim to Figueiredo’s power as Joseph Benavidez. Figueiredo doesn’t let people off the hook and Perez is likely to find that out on Saturday night.

Dana White’s Contender Series Results: Three More Fighters Score a UFC Deal

Week 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series 2020 aired on Tuesday night. As far as DWCS cards this season have gone, the 35th installment of the show was an interesting one.

A last minute replacement, Natan Levy stepped up, preventing a rehash of the previous week, which saw just four fights. Mariusz Ksiazkiewicz looked to be the next Canadian to win a UFC contract, after the success of T.J. Laramie earlier this year. Joseph Lowry was getting his second look on the show, after coming up short against Devonte Smith previously. And Danny Sabatello vs. Taylor Moore was a fight that was practically UFC-level in all but name.

Replacement fighter Natan Levy managed to get Shaheen Santana down in the opening round of their lightweight scrap. From there, he worked on a kimura, americana, and generally showed a great top game. Lots of control time, and a fair bit of ground n’ pound, won the round for Levy, after a bit of a shakey start on the feet. In the second, Levy showed some power in his kicks before pursuing a takedown but after being rocked, Santana managed to take Levy’s back while standing, locking in a body triangle. Santana transitioned to an arm-bar, but Levy was out quickly enough, leaving him on top once again. In the third round, Levy finally sealed the deal. Once again on top, he locked in an arm-triangle choke, and put Santana to sleep!

Dana White’s Contender Series Season 4, Week 9 Results

Mário Sousa def. Mariusz Ksiazkiewicz by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Natan Levy def. Shaheen Santana by technical submission (arm-triangle choke), Round 3, 0:55
Nikolas Motta def. Joe Lowry by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Luana Pinheiro def. Stephanie Frausto by knockout, Round 1, 2:48
Danny Sabatello def. Taylor Moore by unanimous decision (30-24, 30-25, 30-26)

UFC 254 Results: Khabib Retires A Champion

Last Saturday, Khabib Nurmagomedov retired as arguably the greatest UFC fighter of all time. At UFC 254 Nurmagomedov was able to retain his UFC World Lightweight title against his opponent, Interim Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje by a triangle choke submission early in the second round. Nurmagomedov was able to take Gathje down very easily in the second round and got right into the top mount position. From there he skilfully turned that into a triangle choke and put gathje to sleep forcing the official to stop the fight, as Nurmagomedov improved to an undefeated record of 29-0.

Following his victory, Khabib dedicated the fight to his father who recently passed away over the summer and announced that it was his last fight. Prior to the fight, Khabib spoke with his mother and promised her that it was going to be his last fight because she only wants her son to fight with his father in his corner.

There is no doubt that Khabib will not be returning to the UFC without his father here. Following his retirement, this leaves the Lightweight division wide open for a new champion. With quite the stacked weight class, there are many names that could be chosen to potentially fight for the title. Superstars like Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Tony Ferguson, & Justin Gaethje.