This past Saturday at UFC Abu Dhabi, we saw a massive matchup in the bantamweight division. Former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo (24-3-1) was looking to remain unbeaten at 135 as he took on former title challenger Marlon “Chito” Vera (23-10-1).
Vera was coming off a loss to Sean O’Malley in a world title fight so this was a perfect test for Figueiredo to see if he was ready for the championship scene at bantamweight. In the first round, Figueiredo really leaned on his grappling where he was able to take Vera down and control him much of the first round.
Vera normally starts slow and once again, this was the case. In the second round, Vera really came on strong and won the round with his striking. Both men had big moments in the third, but Vera seemed to be getting the better of things. However, Figueiredo was able to drop Vera and he became the first bantamweight to do that.
That was enough to swing the final round to him at UFC Abu Dhabi and the former flyweight champion secured a unanimous decision win to move to 3-0 in his new weight class.
What’s next after UFC Abu Dhabi?
As mentioned, the former flyweight champ is now 3-0 at 135 and he called for a title shot after he won on Saturday. Typically, a former champion in a new weight class would warrant a title shot after three straight wins including one over the most recent challenger. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
UFC CEO Dana White said that Umar Nurmagomedov would be getting the next shot after he defeated Cory Sandhagen in the main event on Saturday. In the latest rankings update, Figueiredo comes in at fifth while Nurmagomedov is second only behind Merab Dvalishvili who is challenging Sean O’Malley next month. With that in mind, Figueiredo is going to need to pickup one more win to get a title shot.
So, who should the UFC pair him against? It’s actually a pretty easy decision when you think about it. The best fight to make is a five-round main event featuring Figueiredo and former bantamweight champion Petr Yan. Yan is currently ranked third one spot behind Nurmagomedov. He’s coming off a big win against Song Yadong and prior to that, he had only lost to former champ Aljamain Sterling, current champ Sean O’Malley, and current top contender Merab Dvalishvili.
Yan – Figueiredo is the perfect fight to determine who would fight for the bantamweight title after Nurmagomedov gets his shot sometime in the first part of next year.