Deiveson Figueiredo finally finds himself back in the win column, and he does so in front of a native crowd, as he defeated Montel Jackson in the co-main event of UFC Rio.
Figueiredo managed to get Jackson down early in the opening round, where he threatened both a guillotine choke and a rear-naked choke before Jackson got back to his feet and got the fight back standing. Figueiredo tagged Jackson in the closing seconds of the first, and he then scored another easy takedowns seconds into the second round.
The former champion worked his way easily into full mount and threatened an arm-triangle choke at one point. While Jackson escaped and started to get into things with exchanges during the second round, Figueiredo continued to control the action as a whole.
One judge somehow scored the bout 29-28 for Jackson, but the other scored the fight 29-28 for Figueiredo, giving him the split decision win.
Deiveson Figueiredo Gets Judges’ Nod Over Montel Jackson At UFC Rio
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Figueiredo rebounds from a pair of losses to Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen over the past year. The former two-time flyweight champion had started his bantamweight run with three straight victories.
Jackson sees a six-fight win streak snapped in this bout. This is his first loss since dropping a decision to Brett Johns in 2020.
