UFC 256: Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno Breakdown

The 125lb champ Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1) has had a very great year. He’s already 3-0 up in 2020 with a potential to go one better. He’s set to take on the #1 ranked Brandon Moreno (18-5) for 25mins.  Many argue that Moreno, not Alex Perez was the one to face Figueiredo when Cody pulled out of UFC 255. Since then, Figueiredo went on to submit Perez within 4 minutes and made a historic turn around to face Moreno in UFC 256. Let’s see how they match up.

Moreno, 5 years the younger has a 2” height advantage coupled with a 2” reach advantage. The leg reach is identical at 38”.

Fighter Background

Figueiredo defeated Joseph Benavidez two times inside the first 6 months of 2020. He defeated Alex Perez in UFC 255 a couple of weeks ago. Moreno, who missed out on the title shot fought and stopped Brandon Royval inside 1 round on the same card. Having taken no damage at all in their last fights, this is the only logical fight to make as Moreno is the clear #1 contender.   

DEIVESON FIGUEIREDO (20-1)

Figueredo’s 2020 campaign has to be one of the most successful in the sport. He’s 3 nil up in title fights and a win against Moreno will get him to 4 nil and will surely secure him the 2020 male fighter of the year spoils. Figueiredo is a threat to anyone in the division simply because of the power he carries in his hands. He has the ability to shut the lights out when needed. His Jiu-Jitsu game is on point. In his three fights this year, he has finished all his opponents inside two rounds with having a max fight time of around 8min, 40sec. He’s a bonafide finisher, having 17 finishes in his 20 wins, and has already tied Demetrious Johnson for the most finishes in the flyweight division with 7. He made his UFC debut in 2017 and has since racked up wins against the division’s elite. He has notable wins against Tim Elliot, John Moraga, Joseph Morales, Alexandre Pantoja, and most recently Joseph Benavidez x2 and Alex Perez. Expect to see Figueiredo dominate the division for a long time as he becomes the new face of the division. He seems to be drawing major attention to the flyweights and this seems to have raised his stocks even higher.

BRANDON MORENO (18-5)

Unlike his main event counterpart, Moreno’s UFC career didn’t get off to the best of starts. In his first five fights, he held a record of 3-2 before being cut from the UFC. He signed with the LFA and won the flyweight title before being resigned from the UFC. Since then, the Mexican has been on an impressive notching three wins against Kai Kara France, Jussier Formiga, and Brandon Royval. Moreno has a good ground game with his aggressive wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu. Of his 18 wins, 10 have come from submissions. He has good cardio which should aid him if the fight was to progress to the championship rounds. In his last fight which should have been for the title, Moreno stopped Royval inside one round via TKO. Surely Moreno will look to take Figueiredo into deep waters and do what no one has done before, stop him.

FIGUEIREDO BREAKDOWN

Figueiredo has a nasty right hand. The Brazilian is extremely powerful and his track record attests to that. 9 of his 17 finishes have come via TKO. Come fight night, Figueiredo will make the walk with an extra 20-25lbs which means Moreno has to be weary of the power Deiveson possesses. He will use the left hand to keep distance and maintain range before unleashing the devastating right hand. Look for Figueiredo to throw hard hooks after escaping the clinch.

Figueiredo also has 8 submissions to his glittering resume. Five of them are guillotines which seem to be his favorite. He will look to grab a hold of that neck and drop down for a tight guillotine. He can do this from clinching like he did to Tim Elliot or he can transition into it like he did against Perez.

Perez had a hold of Figueredo’s legs and looked to trip him over. Figueiredo instantly drops down for the leg and Perez escapes that and grabs his back but Deiveson expertly spins and catches him in a tight guillotine. Just brilliant.

MORENO BREAKDOWN

For Moreno to win this fight, he needs to exercise his reach. He’s a long-range fighter who will look to keep the space, tag Deiveson with a left hook, body kick and keep moving. Moreno has a lot of lead side attacks which he will look to use. Moreno is also an aggressive wrestler and will look to level change into takedowns but needs to be alert about getting caught in a nasty guillotine. He needs to protect his neck while transitioning. Moreno is pretty handy on the ground with 10 submissions, 5 of them being rear-naked chokes. He’s shown to have good cardio and will look to take the fight into the championship rounds where Figueiredo hasn’t been in his last few fights. The deep waters should favor the Mexican. Moreno also needs to work on his striking efficiency.

The final PPV of 2020 should be one banger of a card. Figueiredo will look to win his fourth title fight in 2020, defend his belt for a second time in doing so and wrap up the 2020 male fighter of the year award. Moreno on the other hand, having got his title shot finally will look to stop him. These men have already broken the record for the quickest turn around for a title fight, expect them to break a few more come fight night. You don’t want to miss this one.

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