LAS VEGAS – Ask and you shall receive.
Tim Elliott called out UFC flyweight contender Deiveson Figueiredo and will get his wish next month at UFC on ESPN+ 19. And Elliott admits he’s surprised, considering that Figueiredo could very well have been one fight away from a crack at the title.
“I actually asked for that fight, which is strange because I’ve never gotten a fight that I’ve asked for,” Elliott told MMA Junkie. “I’ve even had guys verbally agree to fight me on the internet, but it still didn’t happen. So when I saw that he beat Pantoja, I called him out right away. I thought no way his camp would take that fight. It wouldn’t be smart. He should sit around and wait. I thought maybe they were going to do a belt between him and Joe (Benavidez) if (Henry) Cejudo wasn’t able to fight.”
Elliott will return back down to 125 pounds in a pivotal fight with possible title implications. He takes on a finisher in Figueiredo, but Elliott believes he’s competed with this style of opponent numerous times throughout his career.
“I mean, I fought this guy three different times,” Elliott said. “When I got fired from the UFC, my first fight was Iliarde Santos. He was like 30-19 or something. My next fight was Pedro Nobre, who was 19-1, and my next fight was Felipe Efrain; he was 11-0. And they’re all big-hitting Brazilians, so I fought this guy three times already. I do really well with big punchers, so I feel like stylistically I couldn’t ask for a better fight.”
It’s been almost two years since Elliott (15-8 MMA, 4-6 UFC) last competed. Shortly after he submitted Mark De La Rosa at UFC 219, he tore his ACL and was forced to sit on the sidelines, an experience he’s not accustomed to.
“I’ve never really had a layoff,” Elliott said. “I’ve never had any injuries. Fourteen fights in the UFC, I’ve never had a real injury. So this knee, it’s kind of new to me, but I feel like just now I’m starting to come into my prime and really start to not feel good again, but feel as good as I’ve ever felt.”
