UFC 283 Preview
The UFC will be taking over the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for UFC 283. The main event will be for the vacant light heavyweight title between former champion #2 Glover Texeira and #7 Jamahal Hill.
Texeira will be trying to rebound from losing his title last June at UFC 275 to Jiri Prochazka, in what was one of the best light heavyweight title fights of all-time. He was scheduled to rematch Prochazka at UFC 282 in December, but Prochazka was forced to pull out of the fight due to injury.
Prochazka made his own decision to vacate the title and Texeira was offered to remain in a title fight against replacement fighter Magomed Ankalaev. Texeira turned down the fight and Ankalaev went on to fight former champion Jan Blachowicz for the belt with the fight resulting in a draw, leaving the title situation a total mess. Through all the chaos, Texeira and Hill were spitefully given their shot at winning gold by the UFC.
Texeira won six straight in route to being granted his second title shot being 42 years old at UFC 267, seven years after his first title fight. He defeated Jan Blachowicz by second round submission becoming the second oldest champion in UFC history.
The former champion received criticism of turning down the fight against Akalaev at UFC 282, but he has responded. “They called me when Jiri got hurt; I wanted to take the fight with Jan,” began Teixeira. “It was short notice, Ankalaev is a southpaw, so I said, ‘I need at least six weeks to train for this guy,” Texeira said.
He went on to say, “I’m not gonna fight somebody just because I trained already, I’m already here, I’m just gonna go in to make the money. I’m gonna fight somebody confident that I can beat him. I told them, ‘Give me Ankalaev for January. Give me anyone for January, and I’ll prepare myself to beat these guys. I’ll come with confidence that I can beat him.’
“If I lose or win, I don’t care about that, but I want to be mentally and physically prepared for somebody.”
After the conclusion of UFC 282, the Brazilian is excited to be fighting for the title in his home country. “Right away, (UFC Chief Business Officer) Hunter (Campbell) and (UFC Matchmaker) Mick (Maynard) called me and said, ‘Do you want to fight Jamahal Hill in Brazil for the title?’
“I didn’t hesitate to answer that question,” Teixeira recalled with a smile. “I wanted to fight in Brazil. I wanted to fight for the title. I had six weeks when they called me, so I said, ‘I got six weeks; let’s go! Call my manager and set up everything. Let’s get it!’”
“The opportunity to fight for the title in Brazil is here and I’m embracing it. I am happy. I’m just gonna go over there and win the belt in my home country.”
Texeira understands he will not have an easy fight, even with the home field advantage as he commented on Hill. “Last fight with Thiago Santos was a knockout. That punch with Johnny Walker? The guy is dangerous. You can’t sleep on him.”
He concluded, “I think Jamahal’s biggest skills are his standup,” added Teixeira. “His standup skills are the most dangerous. He has a loose style, moves around, playing possum sometimes and then snap the punches hard — it’s Jamahal Hill style.”
Aside from Blachowicz, Texeira has key victories in his illustrious career over Thiago Santos, Anthony Smith, Nikita Krylov, Jared Cannonier, Rashad Evans, Ovince Saint Preux, Ryan Bader and Rampage Jackson. Should he win on Saturday, a much-awaited rematch with Prochazka will likely be Texeira’s next fight.
Hill is riding a three-fight winning streak into his first title fight having most recently defeated former title challenger Thiago Santos by fourth round TKO in August. The 31-year-old thinks he is going to be the more intense fighter on Saturday after his first faceoff with Texeira on Tuesday.
“(I’m) just hungry – ready for the kill,” Hill said. “Whenever I’m in a faceoff or whenever I’m in the cage, you see the difference in my eyes. It’s a competitor, and this competitor is a killer.
“I (saw) some fire in his eyes. I (saw) that he’s just ready. You can tell he’s been here before and he’s ready to go through it, but I just didn’t see the same fire that I’m coming with.”
The Michigan native is ready for the biggest challenge of his career. “I’d say Glover would probably be the biggest test of my career to this point, just because the level he’s fought at, the level he’s been fighting at, and just the experience and overall, the strength of schedule that he had,” Hill said.
Was Hill surprised by being granted the title shot? “Who expected a title fight to end in a draw, so I didn’t think anything like this would happen,” Hill said in response to the UFC 282 title fight conclusion. “Did I know I was close to a title shot? Yes I did, because I had just signed a new contract and the championship clause is in my contract.”
“I knew I was close, but I was as surprised as anybody.”
Aside from Santos, Hill has key victories over Johnny Walker and Jimmy Crute. A win over Texeira represents so many new opportunities for Hill and it opens up new possibilities in the light heavyweight title picture.
The co-main event for UFC 283 will also be for a title. Flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo will battle former champion and current interim champion Brandon Moreno for the fourth time. The first three fights were great battles with Figueiredo winning the last fight at UFC 270 a year by unanimous decision to become a two-time champion. The two are 1-1-1 against each other with Moreno having the only finish coming in their second fight.
Figueiredo is 6-1-1 in his last eight fights with the only blemishes being the loss to Moreno and a decision loss to Jussier Formiga. He has the ability with a second win over Moreno to prove he is the best flyweight in the world.
The Brazilian believes he has the edge over Moreno heading into a fourth fight. “I’m Brandon’s nightmare. Unfortunately this is the only fight the UFC has to sell, Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno,” Figuiredo said.
“I think the biggest difference is his fear of me, you know, he can’t stand me. I think that’s what makes the biggest difference.”
Figueiredo is relieved to be fighting in his home country. “I fought Brandon three times already and his last two fights I feel like it was 85% Mexicans. Now he’s fighting in Brazil the whole crowd is going to be behind me. So it’s going to be a lot differences, the whole nation Brazil is going to be supporting me,” Figueiredo said.
The champion believes fighting in Brazil will be an advantage and not a challenge for him. “Brandon’s a kid who’s, you know, psychologically, mentally weak. So fighting with the crowd behind me is not going to be good for him,” he said.
“I want to get in there and win. That’s what I want to do that’s my will. So I want to get in there and win the fight and stay champion,” said Figueiredo.
Figueiredo does not think he will let his fans down. “I make exciting fights. I make thrilling fights and having the Brazilian people I’m going to be able to see the joy in their faces being there. I’m going in there to win, I’m going in there to give a show,” he said.
“I’m really going in there to give a show to everyone, all the Brazilians that are going to be there,” he said.
With a second win over Moreno, Figueiredo will separate himself from the rest of the flyweight division and a move up to bantamweight could be in his future. He must first convincingly defeat a fighter who has taken him to the brink three times.
Since losing the title at UFC 270, Moreno has rebounded well by winning the interim title in exciting fashion with a third round TKO over Kai Kara-France at UFC 277 in July. The Mexican fighter feels he has the chance to solidify his legacy on Saturday in Rio.
“Man, for me, this is a ‘Rocky IV,’” Moreno said. “For me, this is for legacy. This is a movie, right? The movie is, like, grinding by himself.”
"So man, again, of course it’s a lot of pressure and extra pressure. Go to Brazil, go to his hometown. And maybe the people will be against me or not. I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”
The interim champ continued, “Let’s see what happens. I mean, I can see this scenario, like, maybe how fierce the people will be [in favor of] Deiveson. But with the passage of the time, with the passage of the rounds, I feel I can win the hearts of the Brazilian people here in Brazil.”
Moreno has dealt with plenty adversity since losing to Figueiredo especially having to change coaching camps. But he insists he has a championship mentality heading into the tetralogy. “I think [my positivity] is something natural. I try to think positively every single time in every single scenario. And that’s it, man. I understand this fight will be very hard. But I did a lot of good things [preparing] for this one and like you say, my evolution in this sport has been really cool. [It’s not] just the physical part, but the mental part, too. I’ve grown up a lot and I’m ready to fight.”
Like Figueiredo, if Moreno wins he can move on from a storied rivalry, for now, and focus on cementing his status as the best flyweight in the world.
The rest of the main card:
Welterweight - #5 Gilbert Burns vs. #12 Neil Magny
Women's Flyweight - #6 Jéssica Andrade vs. #4 Lauren Murphy
Light Heavyweight - #9 Paul Craig vs. #12 Johnny Walker
ESPN + Prelims:
Light Heavyweight - Maurício Rua vs. Ihor Potieria
Middleweight - Gregory Rodrigues vs. Brunno Ferreira
Lightweight - Thiago Moisés vs. Melquizael Costa
Welterweight - Mounir Lazzez vs. Gabriel Bonfim
ESPN+ and UFC FIGHT PASS Early Prelims:
Heavyweight - #15 Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Jailton Almeida
Lightweight - Terrance McKinney vs. Ismael Bonfim
Welterweight - Warlley Alves vs. Nicolas Dalby
Women's Featherweight - Josiane Nunes vs. Zarah Fairn Dos Santos
Bantamweigh - Luan Lacerda vs. Cody Stamann
Bantamweight - Saimon Oliveira vs. Daniel Marcos
