Deiveson Figueiredo is parting ways with longtime manager Wallid Ismael and will now be represented by Vayner Sports, a firm notably headed by Urijah Faber and Lloyd Pierson.
Sherdog.com confirmed the news following an initial report from Combate. According to the flyweight champion, his disagreement with his former manager did not happen because of the UFC’s decision to make an interim belt.
"Our disagreement was based on numbers,” Figueiredo told Sherdog.com. “When I was champion and fought [Brandon] Moreno at UFC 263, my purse was $200,000 to show plus $100,000 to win plus pay-per-view points. In the third fight [at UFC 270], when I regained my belt, it was $100,000 (to show) plus $100,000 (to win) — that's not a champion´s purse. I called Wallid and apologized to him for some bad stuff I said to the press when I was angry, but we parted ways.”
Figueiredo revealed that he has already signed a contract to be represented by Vayner Sports.
"Urijah Faber is a long-time friend, who already fought for the company and I´m sure we will have a great partnership together,” he said.
The UFC flyweight champion also talked about his decision to train with the Chute Boxe team.
"The atmosphere here is excellent. They have really tough lightweight sparring partners to train with me. Unfortunately I’m still not able to spar due to my hand injury,” he said. “But I´m receiving excellent treatment in Sao Paulo and it´s improving fast. In two or three weeks I hope to be sparring with Charles [Oliveira] and all the tough guys of the team.”
Even though he is aware that Chute Boxe leader Diego Lima doesn’t like the "camp system,” Figueiredo revealed that his partnership with Henry Cejudo is not over.
"I would love to be training with Cejudo in the U.S., but unfortunately my family didn’t get their visas yet. Since it's very difficult to stay away from my family, having the opportunity to come to Sao Paulo and train at Chute Boxe with my son and wife around was amazing.”
Since learning of the interim title fight between Brandon Moreno and Kai Kara France at UFC 277, Figueiredo began to consider the possibility of fighting in the bantamweight division and drew the attention of former champion Petr Yan, who challenged him.
"Petr Yan is not the champion anymore, He has to rise up again to fight me. When I considered going up, it was to make a champion vs. champion superfight,” he said.
According to Figueiredo, his focus is 100% on the winner of the interim belt.
"I´ll be there on July 30 to show the winner of the plastic belt who is the king,” he said. “And whoever wins will have to come down to Brazil to face the champion at home. Moreno fought me at home twice, since Arizona and California are [heavily populated with Mexicans] and 70% of the fans were supporting him.”
Figueiredo also picked a winner for the interim crown.
"I believe Kara France will win by KO, but no matter who is the winner, he will have to come down to Brazil in December to face the real champion and his noisy fanbase.”
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