Deiveson Figueiredo got UFC Belem off to an exciting start on Saturday night!
UFC Fight Night 125, more commonly known as UFC Belem, touched down in Brazil on Saturday, February 3. The UFC’s first trip to South America this year, it brought an eleven fight card ravaged by weight cut mishaps. Luckily, the main event between Lyoto Machida and Eryk Anders remained intact, but the loss of John Dodson vs. Pedro Munhoz after Munhoz missed weight resulted in just a single UFC Fight Pass prelim.
That bout was a flyweight scrap between Brazil’s Deiveson Figueiredo and American Joseph Morales. Figueiredo came into the night undefeated at 13-0, having won both his UFC bouts to date. Morales, meanwhile, improved to a perfect 9-0 after his UFC debut in August.
Saturday night, someone’s 0 was going to go. In the end, it turned out to be the visitor’s.
Shortly after the opening bell, Figueiredo scored a takedown, landing in half guard. Morales briefly bucked him off, only for Figueiredo to move back in, this time into a closed guard. Morales had an arm trapped and was soon threatening with upkicks. Figueiredo followed Morales across the ring, launching bombs and dodging upkicks. The Brazilian scored an elbow, and moved back into full guard. For all of Morales’ activity off his back, the one thing lacking was an escape, that could have made the difference. Instead Deiveson Figueiredo managed to control him for almost the entirety of the round, even when he wasn’t scoring significant damage. In the final minute, the ref stood them up, which opened the door for a huge left jab that dropped Morales and allowed Figueiredo to work for a guillotine.
Round two saw Deiveson Figueiredo land with a superman punch early, and quickly take control of the round. Just past a minute in, he put Morales on his back. Morales would spend another extended stretch on his back, with Figueiredo in control. This time, however, Morales was able to make it back to his feet with two minutes left in the round.
Just when it looked like the flyweight pair would head to a third round, Figueiredo conneceted with a left hook that threw Morales off-balance and onto the ground. Follow-up punches were barely necessary as Morales was out!
Deiveson Figueiredo def. Joseph Morales by TKO, Round 2, 4:34
