EXCLUSIVE | At UFC Prague Diego Ferreira knows he has to go for the finish

Diego Ferreira is looking to continue his win streak and work his way up the UFC lightweight rankings.

Ferreira is coming off of a second-round TKO win over Kyle Nelson at UFC 231 and will now be taking on Rustam Khabilov at UFC Prague. There is no question Khabilov will be a tougher test for Ferreira, but the Brazilian is confident he has what it takes to end Khabilov’s six-fight winning streak.

“I think I have to go more for the finish,” Ferreira explained. “The way I see it other fighters go for a decision. My point of view is to go in there and kill or be killed. That is what I am looking for in this fight and I’m really excited.”

Although Ferreira is excited for this fight, it is a short notice opportunity. He only found out about it on January 18 which means he had just over a month to prepare. However, for Ferreira it isn’t just a four-week camp, rather he has spent everyday since getting back in the gym after UFC 231 preparing for another fight.

“It is kind of short notice but I have been training,” he said. “I didn’t stop training, I took a small break to go to Brazil to get my son. I don’t ever stop camp and I feel good.”

Since his last fight, Ferreira has spent a lot of time in the gym preparing and getting better. He knows he can still get better and believes he has gotten better since his last fight. He can’t wait to show the world how good he is and hopefully get a number beside his name following the fight on Saturday.

“I’ve been training a lot of my defense and wrestling. My wrestling coach has been helping me a lot, and been putting in a lot of effort,” Ferreira explained. “Coach Sayif (Saud) has been showing me a lot of things to do on my wrestling. I didn’t use to have a good base on my wrestling, just my jiu-jitsu. I have to work a lot more on my wrestling and use my sprawls and my takedown defense. With all this work, it has been an intense camp. For the last two fights we have worked on it and I see a lot of improvement.”

Ferreira is ready for anything. But, if all goes to plan, the 34-year-old knows how this fight will go and is confident he will have his hand raised at the end of the affair.

“It will be a scrambling fight. He has good wrestling, and I’m a jiu-jitsu fighter, so I think he will try and bring me to the ground,” he said. “I know we are going to the ground and the way he fights we match up well on the ground.”

Do you think Diego Ferreira will beat Rustam Khabilov at UFC Prague?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/21/2019