The historic UFC 300 goes down this Saturday night from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and from the opening fight to the main event, the card is filled with absolute bangers and huge names. Kicking the early prelims off is a battle of former world champions as former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo (22-3-1) takes on former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt (14-5).
Starting with Figueiredo, he made the jump up to bantamweight at the end of last year when he took on top ten contender Rob Font. Figueiredo at flyweight was special because he was so big and powerful at 125. He relied on that so I wasn’t sure how things would translate to bantamweight. Turns out, they translated pretty well.
He was strong enough to take down Rob Font multiple times and he hurt Font badly a number of times on the feet. One big advantage he brings from flyweight is his speed. He still had his speed and his power still seemed good. Now, he’ll get a crack at a former bantamweight champion.
Cody Garbrandt was on top of the world entering 2017 as an undefeated champion. However, from 2017 to 2021, Garbrandt went 1-5 in six fights getting stopped in four of the five. After some time off, he returned last year and fought twice. Most recently at UFC 296 in December. Garbrandt looked solid winning both of those fights including knocking out Brian Kelleher.
UFC 300 Prediction
If this was prime Cody Garbrandt, I would love him in this matchup. His crisp boxing along with his wrestling base makes him an extremely tough out for a guy like Figueiredo. However, the one things that’s incredibly concerning is Garbrandt’s chin and his willingness to throw technique out the window and get into a brawl.
He has to keep things tight against the former UFC flyweight champion. If he gets wild and swings wide, I think you’ll see Figueiredo get to his chin with powerful straight shots down the middle. Before Figueiredo made the jump up to bantamweight, I would have probably leaned Garbrandt here.
However, after seeing him last December, I really like Figgy at this weight. I think he will cancel out Garbrandt’s speed and I think he finds the chin in the first round which will lead to the end of the fight. Give me the former flyweight champion to start UFC 300 with a bang.
Prediction: Deiveson Figueiredo by TKO – Round 1