Marcos Degli says Mitch Raposo had a "padded record" before their UFC Vegas 124 fight
The Brazilian flyweight believes the UFC wants him to "send this guy packing" on Saturday, and plans to call out Brandon Moreno after the fight.
Marcos Degli says Mitch Raposo built a "padded record" before reaching the UFC, and believes the promotion wants him to "send this guy packing" when the flyweights meet at UFC Vegas 124 on Saturday.
"I believe he had a padded record, and we're not like that. We fought the toughest guys in Brazil," Degli told MMA Fighting. "The birthplace of MMA is Brazil, and we've been tested a lot more than he has."
"He already has some experience in the organization, but he doesn't deliver many finishes," Degli said. "Most of his fights go to a decision, and the ones he finished early in his career were guys who had, like, four wins and over 20 losses."
"I believe the UFC has high expectations for us," Degli said. "And they want us to send this guy packing, right? I'm going to have to beat him so he gets out of there. A guy with four fights, all four going to decisions, for God's sake, right?"
Raposo is 2-2 in the UFC, and all four fights went the distance. His two defeats came against Andre Lima and Sumudaerji, who is now 13th in the UFC's official flyweight rankings, before wins over Azat Maksum and Allan Nascimento.
Degli, a former LFA flyweight champion, is on a 13-fight winning streak with 12 stoppages, the last of them a rear-naked choke of Paris Moran on Dana White's Contender Series in September. The 26-year-old trains at Vale Top Team and fights Raposo on the card headed by Waldo Cortes-Acosta v Johnny Walker.
He plans to call out Brandon Moreno in the cage after the fight. "I have the knockout power to catch him and knock him out," Degli said. "He's had a huge rise, was already a champion, but nowadays he's kind of nearing the end of his career." Moreno, eighth in the official flyweight rankings, is scheduled to face Charles Johnson on 12 December.
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