Deiveson Figueiredo had just defended his UFC flyweight belt with a first-round finish and agreed to a three-week turnaround when his agent Wallid Ismail managed to sign his older brother, Francisco Figueiredo, to the UFC.
It sure felt like the company was doing Deiveson a favor, like a thank you note for saving a pay-per-view on such short notice. Francisco gets that, but he vows to prove in the cage that he’s UFC material, starting with a UFC Fight Island 8 clash with Jerome Rivera.
“I never wanted to get in [the UFC] just because of him – I wanted to get here because I deserved to be here, and I’ll prove I deserve it,” Francisco said in an interview with MMA Fighting.