Deiveson Figueiredo Training with Henry Cejudo for Brandon Moreno

Former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo is using every resource at his disposal to train for his highly-anticipated trilogy with Brandon Moreno at UFC 269, including training with a former bantamweight and flyweight champion.

Figueiredo recently announced on MMA Fighting’s Portuguese podcast Trocacao Franca that he’s decided to work with former titleholder Henry Cejudo for the biggest fight of his career with Moreno. He was originally expected to miss some time and let another flyweight contender Alexandre Pantoja challenge for the belt, but schedule conflicts with Pantoja’s camp have resulted in Moreno making his first title defense against Figueiredo.

Figueiredo is looking to put on a stellar performance against Moreno for their third matchup in the octagon and intends on learning from Cejudo in preparation for the bout.

“I’m talking to Henry Cejudo and Eric Albarracin to go there and do my camp focused on this guy, on getting back my belt that [he borrowed from me],” Figueiredo said. “I want to live an athlete’s life, that’s why I’ll leave Brazil and live overseas so I can get that belt back and keep it for a long time. If the team is good, no doubt that I’m going there for good.”

“I’ll work hard on my takedowns and takedown defense. If he goes to the ground with me it’s going to be way different now.”

Figueiredo is making a good move if he wants to work on his ground game, as Cejudo is a former Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling and had some of the most ferocious grappling in the UFC. Moreno had his way with Figueiredo in their second fight, as he landed some hard ground-and-pound en route to the submission win.

Figueiredo and Cejudo have gone back and forth on social media in the past, but it appears that any bad blood between the two of them has fizzled out. It’ll be interesting to see a more refined version of Figueiredo at UFC 269.

What are your thoughts on Deiveson Figueiredo training with Henry Cejudo?