Chael Sonnen lets his feelings known about meeting Deiveson Figueiredo before Petr Yan fight: "Like putting my hand on a brick wall"
UFC veteran Chael Sonnen recently shared an eye-opening realization from meeting with Deiveson Figueiredo before his fight against Petr Yan. The American Gangster also heaped praise on the UFC Macau headliner.
The Brazilian has lethal power when competing at flyweight and had a seamless transition to bantamweight and wins over Marlon 'Chito' Vera, Cody Garbrandt, and Rob Font. The former flyweight champion was looking to inch closer to a bantamweight title shot. However, he was unsuccessful as he lost a unanimous decision to Yan last Saturday.
During the latest episode of ESPN's Good Guy / Bad Guy, the former UFC middleweight contender disclosed he met with 'Deus da Guerra' before leaving for Macau. Sonnen mentioned Figueiredo was in incredible shape and heaped praise on him for being a very tough matchup for Yan:
"I had a little inside scoop...I met with [Deiveson] Figueiredo and he had no English, but Captain E was there. We conversed back and forth and when the whole thing ended, Daniel, I gave him the ol' pat on the back...It was like putting my hand on a brick wall. This man was nothing but muscle and I wished him luck but I really did think that for somebody that's gotta get locked in there with him, that's a hard night out." [3:18]
Check out the full episode featuring Chael Sonnen's comments below:
Chael Sonnen lavishes praise on Petr Yan for his performance against Deiveson Figueiredo
Besides recalling his meeting with Deiveson Figueiredo before UFC Macau, Chael Sonnen also lavished praise on Petr Yan for his performance against the former flyweight champion.
During the aforementioned episode, Sonnen mentioned Yan had an excellent performance helping him outperform the Brazilian on the scorecards, and made a strong case for a bantamweight title shot. He said:
"To see [Petr] Yan behave in that manner, to see Yan as a former world champion who wants nothing more than the opportunity to win that world title back, that is a very different mountain to climb...Daniel, I thought he looked as close to perfect in this contest as you can get." [3:43]
Check out Petr Yan's post-fight interview following his win over Deiveson Figueiredo below: