UFC 300 has had another highly intriguing bout added to it with Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt set to face former Flyweight Champion Deiveson Figueiredo in a Bantamweight bout.
Both will enter the contest on the back of wins in December and with the power of both being evident throughout their tenure in the UFC, this is a fight fans will not want to miss.
UFC CEO Dana White once again took to his social media to announce four bouts, the last of which was the UFC 300 announcement. He said:
“Another fight, for UFC 300 Figueiredo vs Garbrandt. Figueiredo is 22-3 and he is the former Flyweight champion. He has an 87% finish rate and recently moved up a weight class, taking out the number 8 ranked Rob Font. He is facing former Bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt who is coming off a huge knockout win and looking for a top 10 spot if he can beat Figueiredo.
“So there you have it, I’ll see you guys soon.”
At only 5-0 Garbrandt was signed by the UFC and quickly showed why the promotion had been so keen to get his signature. A five fight winning run, laced with many a highlight reel knock out. The run led to him fighting for the UFC Bantamweight title against Dominic Cruz. In what many perceive to be a career best performance, ‘No Love’ defeated the two time champion and establishing himself at the very top of the 135lbs divison.
Unfortunately for Grabrandt, his career took a nose dive. He lost the title in his very first title defence against TJ Dillashaw, before going on to lose 4 of his next 5 contests. The last of those defeats came against Kai Kara-France via first round stoppage at UFC 269 in 2021. The loss led to the Team Alpha Male athlete to taking some time away from competition.
He eventually returned at UFC 285 and got some much needed cage time with a unanimous decision victory against Trevin Jones at UFC 285. He then rolled back the years and delivered signature knock out finish against Brian Kelleher at UFC 296, racking up back to back wins for the first time since 2016.
Figueiredo has built an impressive resume since signing with the UFC back in 2017, going 6-1 in his first seven bouts. After the impressive initial run, Figueiredo found himself in his first flyweight title fight against Joseph Benavidez at UFC on ESPN+ 27. Although winning the bout with a brutal second round finish, Figueiredo would have to wait to be crowned champion, having failed to make the 125lbs limit before the fight.
The two would then fight again, with a similar result. Figueiredo got the job done in the first round and having successfully weighed in on the 125lb the day before, he was the new Flyweight champion in the UFC.
After a successful first defence against Alex Perez, Figueiredo would go on to have an enthralling four fight show down with Brandon Moreno. The first contest is widely regarded as one of the best Flyweight fights of all time and the judges were split, ultimately with the contest being declared a majority draw. The second fight would see the title change hands with Moreno submitting the champ in the third round.
Figueiredo regained his title in the third fight with a unanimous decision victory, before dropping the belt to Moreno once more. Figueiredo then decided it was time to move weight classes and in his first Bantamweight bout in the UFC, he successfully defeated Rob Font over three rounds in December 2023.
With 6 bouts now being officially confirmed for UFC 300, Dana White and co appear to be keeping to their promise to deliver one of the best cards in recent memory.
