Ante
Delija
and
Renan
Ferreira rolled the dice when they signed with the
Professional Fighters League. The bet could soon pay off for
one of them.
Delija and Ferreira will square off when their 2022 heavyweight
semifinal co-headlines
PFL 8 on Saturday at Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales. The
winner moves on to compete for $1 million in November. Delija
enters the cage on the strength of back-to-back victories. The
Mirko
Filipovic protégé last fought at PFL 5, where he laid claim to
a unanimous decision over
Shelton
Graves on June 24. Ferreira, meanwhile, finds himself on the
rebound after dropping a unanimous verdict to
Klidson
Abreu at the same card. The setback snapped the 6-foot-8
Brazilian’s three-fight winning streak.
As Delija and Ferreira make final preparations for their
forthcoming battle, a look at some of the numbers that have
accompanied them to this point:
32: Years of age for Delija, who was born on Aug. 7, 1990 in
Dubrovnik, Croatia.
9: Delija wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
42% of his career total (21). His list of victims includes
Matheus
Scheffel,
Chandler
Cole,
Oli
Thompson and
Valentijn
Overeem. Delija holds six other wins by submission (29%) and
six more by decision (29%).
38: Seconds needed for Delija to force a corner stoppage against
Erni
Strmonja at a Noc Gladijatora show in April 2011. More than a
decade later, it remains his fastest finish to date.
5: Countries in which Delija has plied his mixed martial arts
trade. He has gone 13-1 in his native Croatia, 5-2 in the United
States, 1-2 in Russia, 1-0 in Bosnia-Herzegovina and 1-0 in
Japan.
90: Combined victories between the four opponents—
Bruno
Cappelozza (twice),
Marcin
Tybura,
Denis
Smoldarev and
Dion
Staring—who have beaten Delija. They carry a .709 cumulative
winning percentage (90-37).
32: Years of age for Ferreira, who was born in Rio de Janeiro on
Nov. 23, 1989.
7: Ferreira victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting
for 78% of his career total (nine). His list of victims includes
Jamelle
Jones,
Stuart
Austin and
Fabricio
Almeida Goncalves. Ferreira owns one other victory by
submission (11%)—he turned away
Jared
Vanderaa with a second-round triangle choke under the
Legacy Fighting Alliance banner in 2019—and another by decision
(11%).
3: Sub-minute finishes on the Ferreira resume. He wiped out
Marcio
Marques with punches in 43 seconds at an MMA Fest event on Dec.
14, 2013, punched out Austin in 31 seconds at PFL 8 on Aug. 19,
2021 and took care of Jones with a front kick and follow-up punches
at PFL 2 on April 28, 2022.
8: Organizations in which Ferreira has suited up as a professional
mixed martial artist. He has gone 3-1 with one no-contest in the
PFL, 1-1 in LFA, 1-0 in Future Fighting Championships, 1-0 in New
Corpore Extreme, 1-0 in Festival de Lutas da CUFA, 1-0 in Acai do
Japa Fight, 1-0 in MMA Fest and 0-1 in Fam Fight.
.725: Cumulative winning percentage between the three
opponents—Abreu,
Brett
Martin and
Vinicius
Moreira—who have defeated Ferreira. They sport a combined
record of 37-14.