Deiveson Figueiredo Reveals Illness Nearly Forcing UFC Des Moines Fight Scratch

While Deiveson Figueiredo did not want to make any excuses, he nearly pulled out of his recent headliner due to a serious infection.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight king Figueiredo revealed to Sherdog on Monday that he had sustained a cut during training that almost forced him out of his match with Cory Sandhagen. The Brazilian vows that had he been at full health and had he followed his gameplan more closely, he would have ended up getting his hand raised. Instead, Figueiredo injured his knee while fending off a leglock.

“Three weeks before the fight I got a jaw displacement after getting hit by a straight punch in sparring,” Figueiredo explained. “Because of that, I had to stay away from striking sparring until last Tuesday. In one of my last grappling sparring [sessions], I got scratched on my leg and the cut got infected, so I had to take antibiotics. On the Monday of fight week, I woke up with a fever and asked my manager to cancel the fight. But [remembering] it was a main event, I reconsidered, and decided to fight in respect with UFC and my fans, even not being in my best condition.”

Figueiredo recognized his mistake, trying to fight Sandhagen in 50-50 grappling position against a fighter who trains with heel hook master and ex-UFC fighter Ryan Hall. He suggested that it was not the damage he had sustained from ground-and-pound that led to his undoing, but rather his own choice to pursue the submission.

“It was a wrong decision,” he said matter-of-factly. “I felt Cody[‘s power, and they were] not hard punches. If I follow the original strategy, the fight certainly could have gone differently.”

Despite seeming bad on fight night, “Daico” believes that his injury is not as substantial as it seems.

“The knee popped, and at the moment I thought it could be something serious,” the Brazilian remarked. “It’s swollen, but I was able to walk during my long trip to Brazil. I’m going to make sure with the doctor this week, but I don’t think it will be something serious that requires surgery.”

Assuming he will be able to get back to training sooner than later, Figueiredo already has designs on fighting again this year—and possibly even more than once.

“I want to fight at least twice more this year. I hope UFC recognizes the effort I made, fighting out of my best condition to keep their main event,” said Figueiredo.

The former champ even has a name in mind for when he gets back to the cage.

“Yadong Song would make total sense. He also lost to Petr Yan and Sandhagen. We are number five and six in the rankings. I have no doubt we can make a hell of a fight,” he concluded.