If current flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo is able to defeat his rival Brandon Moreno in their 4th fight at UFC 283 in January then the Brazilian star has indicated that he plans to move up to bantamweight to challenge for the 135lb title.
“I want to show the world I own this weight class,” Figueiredo told Ag Fight. “After this next fight [against Moreno at UFC 283], I want to test myself at bantamweight. That’s my next step after this fight.
“I want to try a title fight at bantamweight. A win will qualify me for it even it more. I hope the promotion abides.”
While that’s an option that would certainly be worth considering at some stage in the future, it seems unlikely that the UFC would be looking to put a fight together between Figueiredo and current bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling next.
For one thing, Sterling has already indicated that he doesn’t plan to fight again until the summer of next year, and momentum seems to be gathering in the mean time for either a title eliminator or perhaps even an actual interim title bout between current No.1 contender Sean O’Malley and the No.4 ranked Marlon Vera.
After that, depending on who wins there’s others who would be eager to get the next title shot, with Merab Dvalishvili on an eight-fight winning streak and Petr Yan no doubt eager to work his way back to title contention.
Meanwhile, though Figueiredo has six title fights at flyweight, three of them came against Moreno and two against Joseph Benavidez, with the other being against Alex Perez.
With that in mind there’s still plenty of title challengers left for him for now, including a potential rematch with Alexandre Pantoja, and others like Kai Kara-France and Brandon Royval.
Still, there’s no doubt the 21-2-1 Figueiredo would certainly be an interesting addition to the 135lb ranks if he does ever decide to make the move up, and at 34-years-old he likely won’t want to wait around for too much long before giving it a try.
