We’ve got a very exciting bantamweight match up coming to us this fall between a pair of former world champions in no. 3 ranked Petr Yan (17-5) and no. 5 ranked Deiveson Figueiredo (24-3-1), who are expected to headline Road to UFC 3’s season finale, also known as UFC Fight Night 248.
UFC FN 248 is to go down on November 23, 2024, live from the Galaxy Arena in Macau, SAR, China.
Former ACB and UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan has had one of the bigger falls from grace in recent memory, though he’s still seemingly as good as he’s ever been.
Following wins in his first seven-straight octagon bouts over the likes of Teruto Ishihara (KO), Jin-Soo Son (UD), Douglas Silva de Andrade (TKO), John Dodson (UD), Jimmie Rivera (UD), Urijah Faber (KO), and Jose Aldo (TKO), Yan has since gone 2-4 over his latest six appearances, though not without severe controversy.
First he’d lose his title immediately after claiming it in his disqualification defeat to Aljamain Sterling, a fight he was dominating. He then defeated Cory Sandhagen, winning the interim title in doing so, before losing to Sterling in their rematch (SD), a fight many scored for him.
Next came another very controversial defeat, this one to future, now former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley (SD), before he was completely shut down by current champion Merab Dvalishvili (UD).
That was really the only true defeat of his career as his other three inside the octagon all came with controversy, the first defeat of his career coming in an ACB title fight against Magomed Magomedov (SD) also being disputed, a defeat he avenged 13 months later (UD).
Yan followed up his three-fight losing skid with a win over Song Yadong (UD) earlier this year in March.
Former two-time UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo on the other hand would win his first four-straight octagon bouts against Marco Beltran (TKO), Jarred Brooks (SD), Joseph Morales (TKO), and John Moraga (TKO) before suffering his first career defeat to Jussier Formiga (UD).
Following that loss Figueiredo would go on to defeat current UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja (UD), Tim Elliott (guillotine choke), Joseph Benavidez twice (KO, rear naked choke), and Alex Perez (guillotine choke), winning the flyweight title in his rematch with Benavidez and defending it against Perez.
Figueiredo would then battle to a draw with fellow two-time UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno, before going 1-2 against him over the course of his next three fights, losing the rematch (rear naked choke), winning the trilogy (UD), and losing the quadrilogy (TKO).
Next, he’d move up to 135 lbs, and he’s gone 3-0 since with wins over the likes of Rob Font (UD), former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt (rear naked choke), and Marlon Vera (UD).
This is a fight many of us were calling for following Figueiredo’s move up to the UFC‘s bantamweight division, and now we get to see it go down over the course of five rounds.
Who wins this bantamweight contenders bout going down at UFC FN 248?
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