Top 10 bantamweights Marlon Vera and Deiveson Figueiredo are now scheduled to meet in the co main event bout on the UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov card, on August 3rd in Abu Dhabi.
News of the matchup was first reported by Ag. Fight (@AgFight on X) on Friday.
Marlon Vera (23-9-1) is currently the # 4 ranked bantamweight in the UFC. Chito’s most recent bout was a rematch against the UFC bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley, at UFC 299 in March. Despite the fight being a unanimous decision one sided beating, Chito will be back in action less than six months later.
Since March of last year, Chito has gone 1-2, also losing a split decision to Cory Sandhagen. Prior to this run, Vera was on an impressive, four-fight win streak, between 2021 and 2022, that featured: four performance bonuses, two finishes and two main event fights. And, against top level crop of fighters in Davey Grant, Frankie Edgar, Rob Font and Dominick Cruz.
Deiveson Figueiredo (23-3-1) will be looking to compete in just his third fight at bantamweight in the UFC. The current #6 ranked bantamweight has gone 2-0 in the division since moving on from 125lbs. in 2023. The former two-time UFC flyweight champion was welcomed to bantamweight by Rob Font in December of 2023, winning that fight via unanimous decision.
In Figueiredo’s last time out, he submitted former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt via rear naked choke. That was a rather high-profile fight as it started off the night for the UFC’s historic UFC 300 card.
At the time of writing this article, only one other fight has been announced on this card, the main event. The #2 ranked bantamweight, Cory Sandhagen will face off against the #10 ranked bantamweight in Umar Nurmagomedov. The announced card, which is essentially a Top 10 bantamweight tournament thus far, is as follows:
- Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
- Marlon Vera vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
