Deiveson Figueiredo will face Marlon 'Chito' Vera at UFC Abu Dhabi

The UFC will return to Abu Dhabi for a Fight Night on August 3rd and it’s shaping up to be a showcase of the bantamweights. We already know that the main event will feature a five-round matchup between Cory Sandhagen and Umar Nurmagomedov. Tonight, we learned of another marquee bantamweight matchup that’ll be on the card.

AG Fight was the first to report that former flyweight champion and current top six bantamweight contender Deiveson Figueiredo (23-3-1) will face off against former title challenger Marlon “Chito” Vera (23-9-1). Vera will be looking to bounce back after losing his title shot against Sean O’Malley back in March.

Back in 2020, Chito Vera became the first and still is the only man to defeat Sean O’Malley inside the octagon. Starting with the O’Malley win, Vera went 6-2 in eight fights which included knockout wins over former champions Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz. Those led him to a title fight in March where he was outclassed over five rounds by O’Malley. Vera showed his heart that night and vowed that he would get better in order to become UFC champion.

UFC Abu Dhabi

Standing across from him in August will be another former champion in Deiveson Figueiredo. In January 2023, Figueiredo lost the fourth fight against Brandon Moreno in their flyweight title series and decided it was time for him to move up to bantamweight after years of struggling to make 125.

In his bantamweight debut, he dominated top ten contender Rob Font and showed that he can be a force at 135. From there, he took on former champ Cody Garbrandt at UFC 300. Figueiredo got off to a slower start against Garbrandt but in the second round of their fight, he was able to get Garbrandt down to the ground and submit him.

Now, he gets to take on a man who just challenged for the bantamweight title. Should Figueiredo get a dominant win at UFC Abu Dhabi, he’ll be knocking on the door of a title shot.