Diego Ferreira will end his nearly year-long layoff at UFC St. Louis when he takes on Mateusz Rebecki.
Ferreira hasn’t fought since May 20th of last year when he knocked out Michael Johnson. After the fight, Ferreira welcomed a baby girl into the world and also had to focus on his gym which kept him out of action.
“First was my baby girl being born. I was supposed to fight in Vegas for Mexican Independence, but I didn’t go through because my little girl was born. I then had to help my business with my gym and that slowed me down. After that, I needed to get back into my training and be prepared for another fight, and after my last win against Michael Johnson, I wanted to recover because I was having a lot of injuries. I took this time to recover, take care of my baby girl and my business,” Diego Ferreira said to Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com.
Diego Ferreira says he was offered a different fight but wanted to return sooner than what was offered. He then was offered to face Mateusz Rebecki at UFC St. Louis on four weeks’ notice, and he calls this the perfect match for him.
“I know he’s a really aggressive fighter, a southpaw, and throws bombs. He’s a great wrestler, so that matches up for me to prove myself,” Ferreira said. “After my fight with Beneil Dariush, it made me step back and work on that, work on my wrestling defense. I want to test myself, so this is a perfect match for me.”
Against Rebecki, Ferreira is expecting him to come out aggressive and look for big shots. However, the Brazilian believes he can use his wrestling and jiu-jitsu to get the win.
“He’s going to come forward the entire time, so I’m looking for that and take advantage and go for the takedowns and show my advantage with the jiu-jitsu. Explore a little more with my wrestling and jiu-jitsu and see how sharp my hands are. I’m going to try and explore everything about this fight,” Ferreira said.
If Ferreira does get his hand raised at UFC St. Louis he says he wants to get a fight with Bobby Green next time out as he’s ready to climb the lightweight ranks again.
“My dreams now completely changed. Before, I didn’t have the goal to go for the title or be in the rankings. But, after getting wiser and more mature, I feel I can get there and I deserve to be fighting those top-five guys. I’ve been asking my coach to fight Bobby Green and I think that would be a good fight,” Ferreira concluded.
