There are short-notice parallels with Ferreira’s first fight with Rodrigues, too. On that occasion, it was Rodrigues who was looking for a new dance partner after his opponent Brad Tavares was ruled out in the lead-up to the fight. Ferreira stepped up for his Octagon debut and produced a performance to remember as he upset the odds to knock out “Robocop” in the first round to announce his arrival in the UFC’s middleweight division.
“When that opportunity came up and we saw that Gregory did not have a fight scheduled, we thought, ‘Man, this could be a great calling card for me in the UFC’, and my team, myself, we all had the confidence we could do that,” Ferreira recalled.
Preview Every Matchup At UFC 326
“And what better moment to step in for that fight. Fighting him in my home, in Brazil, and it couldn’t have gone better, with a great fight, a great win, and a great knockout.”
Despite Ferreira’s resounding first-round knockout of Rodrigues back in 2023, “Robocop” has been able to ascend the UFC’s middleweight ladder a little faster and goes into Saturday night’s rematch ranked 13th, two spots ahead of Ferreira.
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