Former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo is finally set to make his bantamweight debut with the promotion.
Figueiredo (21-3-1), who twice held flyweight gold in the UFC, will face Rob Font (20-7) at the UFC’s December 2, 2023 Fight Night card at a location yet to be announced.
MMA Fighting was first to report news of the booking.
Figueiredo first won gold in 2020 in the second of two fights against Joseph Benavidez. He would go on to defend his title against Alex Perez, then retain the belt following a draw with Brandon Moreno. That would be the first bout of a four-fight rivalry with Mexico’s Moreno, unprecedented in modern UFC history. The quadrilogy saw Moreno win the next fight, winning the title, only for Figueiredo to win the belt back in their third meeting.
In January of 2023, Moreno would win the fourth meeting between the pair, putting the rivalry to bed. From that point, a move to bantamweight appeared all but a done deal for Deiveson Figueiredo — until a flyweight fight with Manel Kape was announced for UFC 290 in July.
That fight, however, never came to pass. Instead, the “God of War” makes the move to meet Rob Font in his divisional debut, with Font coming off a loss to Cory Sandhagen and 1-3 in his past four contests.
The UFC’s December 2, 2023 Fight Night event currently has the following match-ups reported for it:
- Jamey-Lyn Horth vs. Veronica Hardy
- Miesha Tate vs. Julia Avila
- Punahele Soriano vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
- Rob Font vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
