Deiveson Figueiredo worked on fixing his mistakes to return a better fighter and beat Cory Sandhagen in the main event of UFC Des Moines on May 3.
The former UFC flyweight champion suffered his first loss as a bantamweight in November 2024, a unanimous decision against ex-bantamweight titleholder Petr Yan in China, and went back to Pitbull Brothers gym in Natal, Brazil, to correct the holes in his game. On social media, Figueiredo shared a clip of a disk dodging exercise.
“We do that constantly here in the gym with our conditioning coach Xicão, same coach for Patricio and Patricky,” Figueiredo told MMA Fighting. “We move in circles, almost like writing an ‘eight’ on the floor, and he’s throwing disks while we do out best to dodge them. And I did really well, man.”
Figueiredo said that head movement — and movement in general — was the main issue in his performance against Yan, when he after 25 minutes of action in Macau.
“I’ve rewatched my fight with Petr Yan and know what I did wrong — and I’ve corrected that,” Figueiredo said. “I was too flat footed against Petr Yan. It shouldn’t be like that, you know? I should have insisted more on taking him down. Anyway, lessons learned. If you don’t learn, you better stop fighting.”
The Brazilian talent was 3-0 in the division against Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt and Marlon Vera before the setback, and now looks to regain moment by taking on Sandhagen in Iowa. “Sandman” is 10-4 in the UFC, also spanning a three-fight winning streak in his most recent appearance, when he lost to Umar Nurmagomedov.
“Cory is very versatile, he moves and switches stances a lot,” Figueiredo said. “I think it’s even a bit funny the way he switches stances, crossing his legs, but he’s very talented. We have to be alert, we can’t underestimate him. We have to be 100 percent focused on the win so we come back home with it.”
“Cory is very talented and works a lot with his jabs,” he continued. “He’s jabbing all the time, and has dangerous knees. We know he goes for takedowns when he sees the opportunity, but I have great jiu-jitsu — and I’ve been working on my jiu-jitsu. … I’m going for it. I’m not playing around. When I want something, I never quit.”
Figueiredo scored one finish since moving up to 135 pounds, a submission against former champion Garbrandt, after stopping seven men as a flyweight. Sandhagen was only finished once in the UFC, a first-round rear-naked choke versus Aljamain Sterling back in 2020.
“I’m going there not to let it go five rounds. I’m going all in,” Figueiredo said. “If I take him down, I’ll tap him out. But I’ve been working on my striking, too. I know he’s good, I know he moves well, but I hope to stop him. That’s what I want, and that’s what I’m training for.”
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