Petr Yan got his wish. He called out Deiveson Figueiredo for his return bout, and the Brazilian has answered his call.
Yan, a former UFC bantamweight champion, will meet Figueiredo, the former UFC flyweight champion, in a crucial battle in Macau at the Galaxy Arena on November 23.
Figueiredo has been lights out since moving up from flyweight to bantamweight. The 36-year-old owns victories over Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt and Marlon Vera since making the move to 135.
He’s best known for his four fights with Brandon Moreno that helped save the flyweight division following the promotion of Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship and Henry Cejudo’s move up to bantamweight.
Deiveson Figueiredo’s Last Five Fights
- Win against Marlon Vera by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night on August 3, 2024
- Win against Cody Garbrandt by submission at UFC 300 on April 13, 2024
- Win against Rob Font by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night on December 2, 2023
- Loss to Brandon Moreno by TKO (Doctor Stoppage) at UFC 283 on January 21, 2023
- Win against Brandon Moreno by unanimous decision at UFC 270 on January 22, 2022
Figueiredo’s run at 135 pounds has pushed him up to No. 5 in the division. He could be one win away from challenging for a world title in his second weight class.
Winning doesn’t figure to be easy.
Yan, 31, hasn’t fought since March, when he won a unanimous decision over Song Yadong. Before that victory. Yan endured the most brutal stretch of his professional MMA career.
He’d lost three in a row to the class of the bantamweight division with two disputed split decisions not going his way against Sean O’Malley and Aljamain Sterling. Yan won the bantamweight title vacated by Cejudo when he temporarily retired from the sport.
Yan lost it controversially when he was disqualified for an illegal knee against Aljamain Sterling in March 2021.
Petr Yan’s Last Five Fights
- Win against Song Yadong by unanimous decision at UFC 299 on March 9, 2024
- Loss to Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night on March 11, 2023
- Loss to Sean O’Malley by split decision at UFC 280 on October 22, 2022
- Loss to Aljamain Sterling by split decision at UFC 273 on April 9, 2022
- Win against Cory Sandhagen by unanimous decision at UFC 267 on October 30, 2021
Yan is currently ranked No. 3. If Yan wins, he could be next up for the winner of Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov, or he could get a rematch with O’Malley when he is healed up from a torn labrum.
The Macau card is looking strong. In addition to the tournament fights from UFC China, the card will also boast an intriguing women’s strawweight fight between Xiaonan Yan and Tabatha Ricci, a light heavyweight clash between Volkan Oezdemir and Carlos Ullberg and the return of Chinese KO artist Cong Wang as she takes on Gabriella Fernandes.
This card could be a sleeper. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.