Deiveson Figueiredo TKOed Joseph Benavidez for the vacant UFC flyweight championship at UFC on ESPN+ 27 in February, but missed weight, so the title remained vacant. The pair fight again in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 30 on Saturday night, and during a recent interview with Brazil’s Combate, “Deus Da Guerra” vowed to do it again.
Benavidez has plenty of flaws, he can’t attack while walking backward, said Figueiredo, as translated by Lucas Rezende for BE. I’m going to pressure him with those flaws in mind. I will knock out him like the first time. He will try a stick and move strategy, but that won’t work. I’ll chase him until I catch him. I don’t know until when he will try to run. I’m training for 10 rounds, I will hunt him until I knock him out.
He’s afraid of getting hit in the face, it’s plain to see. The clash of heads in the first fight came from him, he was the one attacking. When he felt that blood flowing, he got so nervous he started brushing his hand against his face. He lost his focus on the fight for a few seconds. That’s when I saw the opening to punch him and knock him out. I’m an aggressive guy. My is lethal. All Benavidez needs to do is not use his head in the next fight and I can show everyone I can win without that.
I was confident when I fought him the first time and I’m bringing this confidence with me for the second, because I know his game. I can’t underestimate him, though, and I don’t do that in any fight. I always train to fight against the best. Since I already know his game, I trained to correct the strikes I was missing, the ones I was supposed to use against him in the first fight.
He was hitting me a lot in the first fight, but you can be sure that won’t happen in the second. I corrected all my mistakes and I’m ready to catch him. I’m very fierce when I’m attacking. When a tiger is trying to pounce on prey, it never scares the prey. It will approach it patiently and jump on the perfect opportunity. I’m that guy. He was hitting me, but I waited for the perfect time for my hand to touch him with full power. There it was, he was knocked out in the second round.
Call it UG – who wins, and how?
