On the finish of Petr Yan and Deiveson Figueiredo’s first staredown forward of their UFC Macau major occasion this Saturday, Yan whispered one thing in Figueiredo’s ear that lip readers have been attempting to determine.
“I simply advised him it’s it’s going to be a really arduous and hard evening for him that he by no means confronted earlier than,” Yan advised MMA Combating.
“I’m not bluffing. I’m not taking part in any thoughts video games. I simply truthfully consider that he by no means confronted something like he’s going to face this Saturday evening. [He’s] by no means had any challenges as I had [in our careers].”
Yan makes his second look of 2024 after defeating Music Yadong at UFC 299 in March. The previous bantamweight champion revealed he suffered a torn ACL and meniscus within the first spherical of the bout, but in addition competed with an damage to his different leg that he handled through the ultimate month of preparation. Yan has totally recovered and feels nice heading into an thrilling major occasion matchup in opposition to one other former world champ.
Figueiredo has seemed improbable since transferring up from 125 kilos. The multi-time flyweight champ has picked up dominant wins over Rob Font and Marlon Vera, together with a stoppage of Cody Garbrandt at UFC 300 in his new bantamweight journey.
In Yan’s eyes, Figueredo seemed nice within the fights, however he was imagined to.
“I imply, if he moved up, it in all probability means he had issues making weight at flyweight,” Yan mentioned. “So it means he minimize loads of weight, so he’s fairly heavy anyway.
“And speaking about his opposition like Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt, Marlon Vera, I consider they’re not that high-level. They’re mid-level, common fighters, and h’se by no means confronted somebody as high-level as me.”
There’s been loads of chatter in regards to the potential stakes within the bantamweight five-rounder within the UFC’s return to Macau. New champion Merab Dvalishvili has mentioned that if he will get the victory on Saturday, Figueiredo needs to be his opponent in his first title protection — a sentiment Figueiredo agrees with as he feels a victory would leapfrog him over Umar Nurmagomedov.
However what if Yan performs spoiler and will get his hand raised?
“, as Merab been saying himself, Figueiredo is a prime, most worthy contender proper now, so if I beat him, I don’t know what Merab’s going to say,” Yan defined. “However in all probability, he’s going need to rematch Sean O’Malley… however as you all know what occurred once I fought Sean, I consider I used to be robbed and I consider I beat Sean very decisively. So, I don’t know what’s going to occur, however I do know that I’m not trying [beyond] Figueredo. I’m simply very assured that I’m gonna break him and I’m going to take this No. 1 contender spot.
“So solely a nasty soldier doesn’t need to be a basic. In my head, I visualize how I win, how my hand get raised, after which I name out Merab.”
