Jafel Filho believes he can develop into the Diego Lopes of the flyweight division.
Lopes made his first stroll to the UFC cage in Could 2023 for a short-notice combat towards top-ranked Movsar Evloev. He got here near giving Evloev his first loss within the sport, however finally misplaced a choice. Lopes went on to seize extra bonuses in his subsequent UFC appearances with first-round finishes over Gavin Tucker and Pat Sabatini.
A former Shooto Brasil champion who, in contrast to Lopes, had success competing on the UFC’s Contender Sequence, Filho was paired up towards highly-touted 125-pound prospect Muhammad Mokaev for his UFC debut. He got here near submitting the undefeated Russian, however finally allowed Mokaev to rally again to win through tapout.
Filho wanted lower than 4 minutes to choke out Daniel Barez in his following bout this previous July, and now he’s searching for one other end over eight-fight octagon veteran Ode Osbourne on Saturday at UFC Vegas 88 to proceed his stand up the 125-pound class.
“Not solely can I [be like Diego Lopes], however I’m certain I’ll,” Filho stated on MMA Preventing’s Trocação Franca podcast. “Should you take a look at my file, most of my victories are by stoppage. I don’t like to depart it to the judges. I am going in there to both knock out or submit [my opponent], or to get knocked out or submitted. However that’s not the case now. We’re going there to complete him and preserve doing like Diego is doing, so we are able to make historical past within the flyweight division.”
Filho stated he hopes a giant victory in Las Vegas results in a conflict with a ranked opponent subsequent, which might all be a part of a plan culminating in a Mokaev rematch down the road. Mokaev submitted Tim Elliott and received a choice over Alex Perez since his victory over Filho.
“We ended up taking that combat with Mokaev, a combat not many individuals needed it,” Filho stated. “I all the time like challenges. I like it as a result of it generates hype round us. I went again to England and received, and now I’ve skilled thrice extra to safe one other victory as a result of we all know it’s a crowded place and nobody desires to remain behind. I’m solely hungrier and hungrier, strolling my path to possibly preventing Mokaev once more on the high and placed on one other nice combat.”
Osbourne has received 4 of eight underneath the UFC banner and sports activities a 2-2 UFC file in bouts which have led to knockouts. Filho is assured that his arms may give “The Jamaican Sensation” one other defeat, however he plans on following a unique recreation plan.
“He has good expertise and has fought powerful guys, however doesn’t take something away from the fighters I’ve fought,” Filho stated. “He’s quick and explosive, however my wrestling and grappling recreation of management and domination is manner higher than his, and it’ll break his will, so I’ve the management of the combat then.
“As [coach Andre Pederneiras] instructed me, ‘Jafel, any hand you land will drop this man as a result of you have got the heaviest arms of the division.’ That’s true. [But] we’ll look to play tight and stable towards him with my grappling. We’ll have extra benefit doing that. Why stroll a tougher street if there’s a neater one, proper?”
