Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Montel Jackson prediction, pick, start time for UFC Rio

Dan Tom
| MMA Junkie

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Deiveson Figueiredo and Montel Jackson meet on the main card of UFC Fight Night 261 at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.

Last event: 3-2UFC main cards, 2025: 94-71-1

Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Montel Jackson UFC Rio preview

Former flyweight champ Figueiredo’s move to bantamweight a couple years back started great with three straight wins – including a submission of ex-champ Cody Garbrandt. But he’s lost back-to-back fights to ex-champ Petr Yan and recent title challenger Cory Sandhagen, so a win against Jackson is of tantamount importance. Jackson quietly has put together six straight wins at bantamweight, including bonuses in two of his past three fights – knockouts of Rani Yayha and Da’Mon Blackshear, the latter of which came in just 18 seconds.

Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Montel Jackson UFC Rio expert pick, prediction

The co-main event in Rio features a potential crossroads fight at bantamweight between Deiveson Figueiredo and Montel Jackson.

Akin to natural middleweight Joel Alvarez, Jackson is another fighter who is probably competing at least one weight class removed from the division to which he’ll finish his career.

Not only does Jackson have standout stats in the height and reach department, but the bantamweight also carries the same hand size as heavyweight Francis Ngannou.

Although people get weirdly defensive when you criticize fighters for being too big for their weight classes, there’s no denying the injury, inactivity and lost opportunities that fighters like Jackson and Alvarez have both not-so-coincidentally had to deal with in their careers (as they’re both also entering their mid-30s and only now getting big-name opportunities, but I digress).

If this fight were booked four or five years ago, I’d take Figueiredo in a heartbeat. But between the miles that have taken their toll on the former champ and the fact that we just saw Figueiredo get his knee torn apart five months ago, I gotta side with the younger fighter in Jackson.

I wouldn’t be surprised to start seeing diminishing returns starting to show themselves at this point in Jackson’s career as he continues to make this weight cut, but I’ll officially pick the American to win a depressing decision on the cards.