\n<\/p>\n
Marcos Degli believes the UFC put him on an important mission: Get rid of Mitch Raposo.<\/p>\n
The flyweights fight Saturday at UFC Vegas 124, and Degli expects to deliver a violent finish. Degli, a former LFA flyweight champion, is on a 13-fight winning streak with 12 stoppages, including a Dana White Contender Series<\/em> rear-naked choke win over Paris Moran this past September.<\/p>\n Degli sees Raposo as experienced, but inferior opposition. Raposo is 2-2 in the UFC, all decisions, with wins over Azat Maksum and Allan Nascimento in his most recent fights.<\/p>\n \u201cHe already has some experience in the organization, but he doesn\u2019t deliver many finishes,\u201d Degli told MMA Fighting. \u201cMost 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. He had a better offensive game early in his career, but those were very inexperienced opponents.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe he had a padded record, and we\u2019re not like that. We fought the toughest guys in Brazil. The birthplace of MMA is Brazil, and we\u2019ve been tested a lot more than he has.\u201d<\/p>\n Raposo scored stoppages in five of his seven pre-UFC victories, topping opponents with a combined record of 24-28-1 at the time of their fights.<\/p>\n Degli\u2019s 6-0 run in the LFA included a trio of title wins against Lincon Santos (9-2), Matheus Severino (14-4), and Luis Aguiar (9-1). \u201cTailandes\u201d knocked out all three to finally earn a shot on DWCS<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like the UFC really believes in the hype of Marcos Tailandes,\u201d Degli said. \u201cThey\u2019re putting me up against a top-12 ranked fighter, so they see Marcos Tailandes as a superstar in the making. And we\u2019re going to exceed their expectations. We have a champion\u2019s profile, we\u2019re the kind of guy who delivers in fights, and that\u2019s what UFC guys want: a fighter who goes out there and finishes fights. And that\u2019s what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI believe the UFC has high expectations for us,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd they want us to send this guy packing, right? I\u2019m going to have to beat him so he gets out of there. A guy with four fights, all four going to decisions, for God\u2019s sake, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Degli said Raposo\u2019s style is \u201ceasy to read\u201d, and he will ultimately crumble to his power.<\/p>\n \u201cHe works mostly with his hands, throws a lot of volume, but he doesn\u2019t have the kind of punching power that catches guys,\u201d Degli said. \u201cHe relies more on volume, and I see that when he feels pressured, he tends to shoot for a double leg. But even though he\u2019s a black belt, he doesn\u2019t have that effective grappling game that allows him to control opponents and finish them. He usually takes guys down, and they get back up right away.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did a perfect breakdown of his game. We know his main strength is the first round, when he comes out firing on all cylinders, and we\u2019re going to neutralize his movement, hurt him little by little, and get that knockout we\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n A teammate of welterweight contender Carlos Prates, who has claimed bonuses for every single one of his victories in the UFC and now challenges Michael Morales for the interim strap, Degli promises to match his friend\u2019s level of excitement inside the octagon after already securing a finish on DWCS<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cNow I can go out there and break each other up,\u201d Degli said. \u201cThere are bonuses at stake now, there\u2019s a Performance of the Night bonus now, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going after. I didn\u2019t want to break myself on Contender Series. I was already looking to fight between December and January, and God had me scheduled to fight as early as November. How great is that? I\u2019m going after that Performance of the Night bonus and the joy of ending the year with my pockets full, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Much like Prates, Degli wants to be fast tracked on his way to a title shot in the UFC flyweight division. For that reason, he plans on calling out Brandon Moreno inside the cage Saturday night. Moreno is currently scheduled to fight Charles Johnson on Dec. 12.<\/p>\n \u201cI have the knockout power to catch him and knock him out,\u201d Degli said. \u201cHe\u2019s had a huge rise, was already a champion, but nowadays he\u2019s kind of nearing the end of his career. It would be a very good fight for me. It would be an honor to fight a former champion, right? That\u2019s the path Carlos Prates took, facing former champions and now becoming a title challenger, and that\u2019s what we want for me, a fast rise.\u201d<\/p>\n