Cody Garbrandt is out of his fight with Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 255. The flyweight champion will now take on Alex Perez in the headliner on November 21.
Per Marcelo Barone and Raphael Marinho of Combate, Cody Garbrandt is out of his fight with flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 255 on November 21. Figueiredo will now face ranked flyweight contender Alex Perez, who was previously scheduled to compete on the undercard against Brandon Moreno. Per a recent report from MMAFighting, Garbrandt suffered a torn bicep earlier this week that removed him from the bout.
Flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo became the first male fighter from Brazil to claim a UFC championship in five years when he defeated Joseph Benavidez in July. A part of the UFC since 2017, “Daico” has amassed an 8-1 record in the company with wins over some of the top names at 125 pounds including John Moraga, Alexandre Pantoja, and Tim Elliott. Earlier this year, Figueiredo faced Benavidez for the vacant title and scored second round knockout. He infamously was unable to be awarded the belt, however, after missing weight for the bout. He went on to fight Benavidez in an immediate rematch in July and scored a first round finish without any controversy to officially become champion.
A part of the inaugural season of Dana White’s Contender Series in 2017, Alex Perez has been working his way up the rankings at the same time as Figueiredo and facing the same struggles of toiling away amidst rumors of the division being scrapped. Going 6-1 after DWCS, Perez took on notable names himself such as Benavidez and notched a win over former title challenger Jussier Formiga. The win over Formiga is Perez’s most recent in June and his booking with Brandon Moreno in November was scheduled as a backup plan for exactly this situation if one of the main event fighters fell out.
UFC 255 will feature a double-header with Figueiredo and Perez competing in the headliner and women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko and Jennifer Maia competing in the co-headliner. The fight is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas.
