Kazakhstani Brothers Are Secret Weapon for New Look Figueiredo Against Sandhagen

After suffering his first defeat in the bantamweight division in his last fight against Petr Yan, former flyweight champion Deiveson "Daico" Figueiredo sought reinforcements from Eastern Europe.

“A fighter can never be in his comfort zone,” Figueiredo told Sherdog ahead of his headlining bout with Cory Sandhagen at UFC Des Moines on Saturday. “I hired two ‘Russians’ to help me in this camp here at Pitbull Brothers. In fact, these two fighters brought by [Eric] Albarracin here to Natal are even taller than [Sandhagen]. Both are good at both striking and wrestling. These training sessions demanded a lot from me. And leaving my comfort zone made me evolve daily.”

The two fighters to which Figueiredo is referring are the Kazakh brothers, Idris Idrissov and Chingis Idrissov. They are part of the Broadstreet Global Combat Elite Athletes fighter exchange program promoted by Albarracin at Pitbull Brothers in Natal.

Figueiredo came from Belem, Brazil, to Natal without the company of his wife and children.

“No pain, no gain. My routine here was 100% training, from home to the gym, with no distractions,” he said.

When asked to analyze Sandhagen’s loss to Umar Nurmagomedov in his last fight, Figueiredo made it clear that grappling could be a differentiator for him in this fight.

“You have to be very careful when you’re fighting with Cory, because he’s very versatile and knows how to use his reach well with both jabs and knees, but I’m arriving well prepared to do MMA and surprise him. I can knock him out or submit him. I only think about winning,” he said.

Figueiredo believes a title shot is possible if he delivers a good performance against Sandhagen.

“Since I am a former champion and Merab himself said he would like to face me, I think I could be next,” Figueiredo said.

However, the Brazilian also thinks that if the UFC matches Nurmagomedov, who beat Sandhagen, against Yan, who beat him, the winner of that fight could be the next No. 1 contender. No such bout has been announced by the UFC at this point in time.

“In this case, I believe Umar is the favorite against Petr Yan,” Figueiredo said. “I think he will be able to take him down and show his game. If he wins, I will probably have to fight Umar before the title shot.”

Figueiredo revealed that his recent change in appearance is due to a cosmetic procedure he underwent on his jaw.

“We fighters end up with scars all over, our faces sag due to subsequent weight loss, so I decided to have a filler procedure on my chin and I shaped my jaw,” he said. “I really liked the result.”