Deiveson Figueiredo suffers an eye injury, and the belt goes to the Mexican amidst shouts of ‘shame’

The manifestation of the Brazilian crowd was of “shame” and many boos. Much because of a controversial arbitration decision. Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno, publicly declared enemies, faced each other this Saturday at UFC 283, at Jeunesse Arena, in Rio de Janeiro, with the Mexican winning and winning the unified flyweight belt (up to 56.7 kg).

The controversy happened in the third round. Brandon Moreno landed a beautiful cross on Deiveson, who complained that the Mexican’s finger had gone into his eye. Herb Dean was unable to stop the fight before Moreno landed a mount. On the ground, the Mexican had a wide advantage.

On the replay, you could see that the Mexican’s fingers were touching the Brazilian’s eye, but you can’t tell if it was intentional. The arbitration ruled that the touch was legal. The fact is that Deiveson didn’t make it back to the fourth round, giving the victory to Brandon Moreno. In the post-fight interview, the fans’ boos barely let the Mexican speak.

The Brazilian, on the other hand, was greeted with shouts of “champion”.

“I hope I haven’t lost sight of it.” I can’t say if it was nice or not. [o golpe]. I know my eye closed – lamented the Brazilian

In the other three fights, balance. The first fight between them took place in December 2020, and ended in a draw after Deiveson had a point deducted for an illegal blow. Then, in June 2021, Moreno became champion of the category by winning by submission. Already in January 2022, Deiveson won in a unanimous decision.

This Saturday’s fight also had a different flavor for another reason. If in the light heavyweight category the search was for a new champion, in the flyweight division the objective was to unify the belts – now belonging to Brandon Moreno.

That’s because, even though Deiveson won in 2022, he suffered a hand injury and lost the lineal belt four months later. Brandon Moreno defeated Kai Kara-France in July of last year to take the interim title. Now the duel was worth the unification.

It remains to be seen now what will be the future of Deiveson. He doesn’t hide his desire to change to bantamweight (up to 61 kg). According to him, “he already did what he had to do on the fly”.

How was the fight:

In the first moment of the fight, Moreno managed to take the fight to the ground. The athletes stayed almost a minute on the ground, but got up soon after. At the end of the round, the fight went back to the ground and Deiveson tried a leg lock, but he couldn’t complete it before the bell sounded.

In the second round, the fighters stayed on their feet longer, but they couldn’t fit their punches. On the ground, Deiveson again tried to fit in a lock to win via submission, but Moreno broke free.

In the third round, a controversial moment. Brandon Moreno landed a nice cross on Deiveson, who complained that one of the Mexican’s fingers had gone into his eye. Herb Dean was unable to stop the fight before Moreno landed a mount. On the ground, the Mexican had a wide advantage. Undisputed victory for the interim champion in this round.

In the fourth round, Deiveson was unable to return to the fight due to the eye blow. Thus, victory of the Mexican.