Deiveson Figueiredo’s next fight will be against Montel Jackson at UFC Fight Night 261 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on October 11th.
Former flyweight champion Figueiredo is perhaps returning to action earlier than expected given that he lost his last fight against Cory Sandhagen in May by TKO due to suffering a knee injury during a scramble on the mat.
Figueiredo suffered an anterolateral ligament (ALL) tear on the night, but thankfully that’s not as serious as some other ligament damage and so he didn’t required surgery and is now set to return six months later.
The 37-year-old Figueiredo moved up to 135lbs in 2023 after losing the flyweight title to his rival Brandon Moreno in their quadrilogy fight, and he started strongly in the division by racking up a trio of wins over Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt and Marlon Vera.
However, a decision loss to Petr Yan in November of last year followed by his more recent loss means his title ambitions have been dented, though he is still ranked No.6 in the division.
Now he’ll be going up against the 33-year-old Jackson, who is currently ranked No.15 in the division after putting together a 9-2 run in the Octagon.
Jackson comes into the fight on a six-fight winning streak, but he’s only been fighting once a year recently and hasn’t yet had a big-name win to propel him further up the rankings, with his recent victories being against the likes of Daniel Marcos, Da’Mon Blackshear and Rani Yaya.
Figueiredo vs. Jackson joins a UFC Fight Night 261 card that will be headlined by Charles Oliveira vs. Rafael Fiziev, with Vicente Luque vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio also confirmed for the show.
