Cody Garbrandt is getting his wish.
After Garbrandt’s explosive KO win over Brian Kelleher at UFC 296 in December 2023, No Love called out former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, who recently jumped to bantamweight.
UFC CEO Dana White took to social media to announce Garbrandt-Figueiredo for UFC 300 and three other interesting fights scheduled for March.
This fight has the potential to be explosive.
Figueiredo is coming off a unanimous-decision win over Rob Font in December 2023 in his 135-pound debut. The 36-year-old, all-action Brazilian is looking to conquer another division.
Garbrandt, 32, hopes to climb the division’s ladder again to regain the title he held from December 2016 to November 2017.
With the addition of Garbrandt-Figueiredo, the UFC 300 card is beginning to look like the compelling and potentially exciting event many fans expect.
Here’s a look at the confirmed fights on the card so far.
- (c) Weili Zhang vs. Yan Xiaonan – UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship
- Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan – Lightweight No. 1 Contender’s Bout
- Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandr Rakic – Light Heavyweight
- Calvin Kattar vs. Aljamain Sterling – Featherweight
- Bo Nickal vs. Cody Brundage – Middleweight
- Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt – Bantamweight
That’s six really solid fights featuring six current or former UFC champions. Still, White and Co. might be looking to add at least one more title bout–and possibly two.
Strong rumors suggest welterweight champion Leon Edwards will be defending his 170-pound title against Bilal Muhammad. That would undoubtedly strengthen the lineup of fights, but a third world title bout could also be added.
Alex Pereira, Tom Aspinall, Alexa Grasso, and Alexandre Pantoja would seemingly be the only champions with a chance to fill the spot. Pereira is the one most capable of moving the needle.
A battle between Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev could make sense if the latter defeats Johnny Walker on Saturday at UFC Vegas 84. Former champion Jamahal Hill would be the next logical challenger for Pereira. However, he is still recovering from a torn Achilles, so the No-3-ranked Ankalaev would be a logical challenger to Pereira.
If UFC 300 rounds out with Pereira-Ankalaev, Edwards-Muhammad, and Weili-Xiaonan, it won’t be quite as star-studded as many hoped, but it will still be one of the year’s top shows.
