Brazilian contender Deiveson Figueiredo proved himself worthy of a title shot when he went head to head with Tim Elliott at UFC Fight Night 161 on Saturday and clinched a first-round victory against the former title challenger.
With this win, Figueiredo took his current MMA streak to two victories and his total number of wins at the UFC to six.
What happened in the Octagon
Tim Elliott had come back to the cage after a hiatus of almost two years. But when it came to being aggressive and all-out in the Octagon, he was not pulling any punches at all. The fight was full of back-and-forth action from the very beginning.
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Towards the middle of the first round, Elliott, staying true to his feisty manner of fighting, attempted a takedown on Figueiredo. But the Brazilian was quicker on his feet to evade and caught Elliott in a hard-to-escape guillotine choke. Being someone who is very difficult to submit, Elliott held on to the very last second before tapping out of the hold.
This fight takes Figueiredo’s UFC record of finishes to four out of the six wins he has under his belt. Keeping that in mind, along with his Unanimous Decision win against Alexandre Pantoja in a Fight of the Night performance in July, the 31-year old is surely in a good position to get a shot at the title, especially with a division with very few contenders like Flyweight.
In the case of Henry Cejudo failing to defend his 125lbs title in the near future, fans can expect to see a fight between Figueiredo and another top contender Joseph Benavidez, who also tops the UFC Flyweight rankings, for an interim Championship belt.
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