Deiveson Figueiredo wants to return to his original home after UFC 332.
Figueiredo (25-7-1 MMA, 14-7-1 UFC) meets rising bantamweight star Payton Talbott (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in Saturday's co-main event (Paramount+) at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
A former two-time UFC flyweight champion, Figueiredo moved up to 135 pounds after losing his title to Brandon Moreno. He got off to a 3-0 start, but has since lost four of his past five. Despite his skid, Figueiredo is expressing interest in dropping back down.
Not only does he want to compete at flyweight, but he's confident he can take out champion Joshua Van (18-2 MMA, 11-1 UFC).
"Well, I've been asking UFC and telling them I will make that weight very easily," Figueiredo told reporters through an interpreter
during the UFC 332 media day. "I've been asking them to just make the fight. I want that opportunity. Let's see if his boxing is as good as mine."
Figueiredo was asked to clarify if he'd be willing to drop back down to flyweight to fight Van with a UFC 332 win.
"Two hundred percent," Figueiredo said. "It needs to happen. UFC gives me an opportunity, I go out there and knock him out."
Van has defended his UFC flyweight title twice by finishing Tatsuro Taira and outlasting Alexandre Pantoja (30-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC), who Figueiredo beat at UFC 240. Figueiredo was surprised with Pantoja's game plan against Van.
"Everybody wants to exchange with him, and he's a striker," Figueiredo said. "I'm a striker and a grappler, so believe me, if he wants to strike with me, the effect won't be the same, and he will not want to exchange with me. Pantoja's an amazing fighter, but I think the game plan was wrong because he was just trying to push the striking in this fight. Why not use more grappling in this fight with the excellent jiu-jitsu he's got?"
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Deiveson Figueiredo vows to KO Joshua Van: 'I will make that weight very easily'
