Petr Yan vs Deiveson Figueiredo Prediction: Russian Fighter to Fight Mercilessly

The UFC Fight Night 248 mixed martial arts tournament will take place in China on November 23rd. Two former champions, Petr Yan and Davison Figueiredo, will fight in the lightest weight class. 

Petr has had an interesting and eventful UFC career. He became champion in 2020 when he knocked out Jose Aldo, but in the next bout, Aljamain Sterling showed more skill. Then there was a fight for the interim title, which he won, but then he lost three consecutive times. Yan only lost once, and that was to Merab Dvalishvili, who simply declassified him. Petr didn't show everything he could in the other two bouts with Sean O'Malley and the rematch with Sterling, but he was still better than his opponents. The judges didn't think so, though, and decided separately that it was not in his favor.

He beat Song Yadong in his last fight and is preparing to start a new title run. As usual, Yadong was training in Thailand. At the same time, he extended his contract with the UFC for three years, and those around him, like Anatoly Malykhin, simply admired his physical form.

Deiveson Figueiredo has been in the world's strongest league since 2017. He became the champion in the lightest division in 2020 and defended the belt twice, but then Brandon Moreno stood in his way. Figueiredo had four bouts with the Mexican (in the UFC for the first time), with wins and losses mixed up, but he still failed the last one.

So he finally lost his featherweight belt and moved to lightweight, where he had three fights and won each one. His last opponent was Marlon Vera.

Typically, Petr Yan only gets going in the second half of the bout, but now it's a bit risky. Davison Figueiredo isn't the kind of guy who gives up what he's already won. And we can't forget that Petr has lost split fights before. We hope Yan will start strong and keep up the pace for all five rounds. His conditioning should be enough to carry him through.

Figueiredo will be looking for the knockdowns. He always goes for it. He'll be able to move Petr a few times. It'll be interesting to see how the judges decide what matters, whether the Brazilian's control in boxing and submission attempts or the Russian's accurate, hard punches. Given Yan's excellent physical condition and motivation, we believe he will be able to gain the upper hand on Figueredo and knock him down a couple of times with punches on his feet. Bookmakers seem to agree with us.