Madden: When I think about what Figueiredo needs to do to win this fight — I think there are a couple factors that play into this, but I think he needs to slow Brandon down a little bit, and he needs to find that big shot. We’ve seen him be successful with the low kicks in the past fights, and I would love to see him get back on the low kicks early, invest in them through five rounds.
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I also think he needs to punch with Brandon, not necessarily try to lead or follow him. I think he needs to go second with Brandon, rather than going first and third. We saw in the last fight at the end of the third round, Brandon jabbed and Figueiredo timed an overhand at the same time, and not only did he connect, but he did damage and dropped Brandon with it.
The timing on that big punch is going to be what’s really important in this fight. If he hurts him, we’ll see if he can jump on top and do more damage or look for a choke, depending on where they are in the round.
And for Moreno, he’s so well-rounded, his conditioning is fantastic — he’s gotta work. If I were cornering Moreno, we know Figueiredo keeps a little bit of a slower pace — I think the weight cut is a factor in that — and Moreno doesn’t have to worry about getting tired. We’ve seen him go five rounds multiple times and know he can carry that pace, so he’s gotta work and make Figueiredo work.
I think he needs to mix in the wrestling, mix in the body lock that he was successful with in the last couple fights. Even if he doesn’t keep him down, he’s going to keep him guessing, keep him working, keep him reacting with the takedowns. And in the back-half of the fight, let’s separate and make sure we’re pulling ahead in this fight.
X Factor
Kyte: If there were one thing that was going to significantly impact how this fight plays out — that swings it in one direction or the other — what would it be?
Madden: For Figueiredo, I think it’s the location of the fight this time. These fights in Brazil are a different animal, and when you’re fighting for a belt in front of your home crowd… that’s not to say I don’t think Brandon is going to feed off that energy as well, and I don’t see it shaking him, but it’s going to give Deiveson a little more motivation.
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And we may see him be more aggressive too — more willing to push the pace because he knows the crowd is behind him too.
For Moreno, I think it’s that he had a fight with Kai (Kara-France) in the meantime. Not only did he have a fight, he looked really f****** good in that fight. He showed he’s continuing to elevate his game and make improvements, he made fantastic reads, in that fight; Kai is no easy fight by any means and he looked f****** fantastic in that fight.