Carlos Diego Ferreira: The Dream and the Process
Photo by Valery Sharifulin\TASS via Getty Images
This Saturday night, Carlos Diego Ferreira (CDF) will celebrate his thirty-fifth birthday and his tenth UFC fight (7-2) when he opens the PPV card against former UFC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime for Ferreira, who, despite his age, is in the midst of his fighting prime. Despite being one of the most successful lightweights of the past years he is still relatively unknown. A showcase performance against “Showtime” would place him in the top 10-15 of the division.
That fight has the right ingredients to be exciting, Anthony Pettis vs. a skilled pressure fighter is always a banger! We’ll see the clash of styles between the archetypal hard worker vs. “natural talent”. Of course, both are hard workers, and both have talent, but it’s been a much longer process for Ferreira to find himself and show his talent to the world, while Pettis’ dynamism shot him into stardom very early on.
My friend and colleague Julian wrote about Anthony Pettis’ talent and development, now we’ll take a look at how Carlos Diego Ferreira became one of the more dangerous fighters in the division.
THE KID FROM THE AMAZON
A little over three decades ago, Carlos was born in a small town along the Amazon river. His childhood was very precarious, but he got to witness the beauty of the Amazon every day until the family moved to Manaus when he was 8 years old. This is where he started to play soccer, and practice Capoeira. At the age of ten years old, he started his training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The young Carlos, like many young kids from the city, fell in love with jiu-jitsu and decided to dedicate his life to the gentle art. Carlos excelled, he dreamed of becoming a BJJ World champion like his idol, “Jacare” Souza.
To truly pursue this dream, he would have to leave his native Amazon. He settled in Pharr, Texas and took part in numerous BJJ tournaments. Carlos came very close to becoming a champion in the 2009 No-Gi World Jiu-Jitsu Championship when he captured the silver medal, finishing behind the great Lucas Leite. Carlos was one of the best of his generation, but not the best.
In order to make a living he worked as a salesperson in a mattress store while teaching jiu-jitsu. Even though he enjoyed it, the competitor in him was hungry. MMA was never part of the plan for Ferreira, until one friend asked him if he was interested in making $300 in one night.
It wasn’t much, but Carlos could send that money to his family, who still lived in Manaus. Carlos took a few boxing classes and won the fight. At first, his plan was just to fight every three months to help his family, but after building a solid record of 6-0 with five submissions, Texas-based promotion Legacy FC offered him a contract.
The kid from the Amazon was on his way to greatness, he decided to go all-in on his dream. He quit his job at the mattress store, focusing full-time on becoming the best MMA fighter he could be. Inside six months, Carlos fought three times for Legacy FC and won their lightweight title. It must have felt good for our hero as he beat Jorge Patino, the man who knocked Jacare Souza out cold a long time ago in Manaus. Carlos dominated the bout from start to finish to win via unanimous decision.
UFC
Carlos’ fighting style was, at first, raw. His goal was to get his opponent to the ground and grapple on to victory. He did not have the strongest shot wrestling game, preferring to use the clinch, looking for trips and throws. On the feet, Carlos used a high volume of kicks, as he wasn’t afraid to be taken down. Through the years, his hands improved significantly. All this time, he was mostly training himself, with help from his boxing coach at his own gym in Texas called “Team Perreira”.
His first UFC bout didn’t last very long. He made his debut in Texas against Colton Smith, the winner of The Ultimate Fighter Season 16, who fought a young version of all-time great Robert Whittaker at welterweight and former top 15 lightweight Michael Chiesa. The fight lasted 38 seconds, making it the fastest debut in lightweight history.
Even within that short span of time, Ferreira showed just how crafty he was. Smith took the center of the octagon and put some pressure on Ferreira, throwing one head kick followed by a jab to the body, shooting in when Carlos back was against the cage.
Reading Smith’s reactions, Carlos spied an opportunity. Every time he would touch Smith’s upper-body with his arm, Smith would put his hips back. So, Carlos used that space to land one knee to the body, then he used his left arm to stop Smith from throwing his own knee.
As soon as Smith felt Carlos’ hand on his knee or hips, he assumed a knee was coming, raising his own leg to block. Timing this reaction, Ferreira grabbed Smith’s left arm, worked his underhook, and instead of throwing a knee, he went for the hip sweep.
Smith gave up his back after a few punches to the head and it was all Carlos needed to choke him out. The bout went from zero to hundred within ten seconds.
Two months later, Carlos took on Ramsey Nijem, who started 2014 with two big wins over Justin Edwards and Beneil Dariush (Performance of the Night). It was a big step up in competition for Ferreira at this point in his career. His flawless, but padded 10-0 record was going to be tested. He entered the bout as a -190 favorite.
The event was supposed to be headlined by a rematch between TJ Dillashaw and Renan Barao, with Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso as the co main event. DJ-Cariaso was rescheduled when Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones was delayed due to injury and that card needed a new headliner. Barao failed to make weight, and the fight got cancelled by the Californian Athletic commission. Joe Soto stepped in to make his UFC debut against ‘Killashaw’ on 24 hours notice. Joe Rogan called this event “The Haunted UFC Card”. For a PPV, it was incredibly weak. Dana White even went to the locker room before the official weigh in to remind every fighter that this is an opportunity to prove everyone wrong and to put on a show. That’s why Carlos and Ramsey Nijem fought on the main card.
The narrative around that fight was that CDF could not strike with Nijem, who could not grapple with Ferreira. Well, it was a bit more complex than that.
For the first four minutes, they engaged in a kickboxing match, one that was largely controlled by Nijem. However, he fought very tall and escaped the pocket with his chin high on few occasions. Even though Carlos was stiff, he was at least focused defensively, slipping and countering every straight shot from Nijem. Carlos eventually caught Ramsey with an overhand right that rocked him.
Ramsey went looking for a double leg, that was immediately stopped via headlock and turned into a kimura attempt. Ramsey eventually managed to escape, but the attempt was quick and dangerous. Nijem had very little success on the feet, along with nearly falling into another submission at the end of the first round, but he kept trying to mix it up and managed to get the fight to the ground in round two.
You could say CDF was happy to see the fight go to the ground, but to be fair, he didn’t have much of a choice. He was still fairly raw and unable to stop Ramsey’s shot takedowns. CDF’s transitions to submissions were highly impressive, but his overall MMA game wasn’t developed quite yet.
His striking was too stiff, too raw and too predictable to deal with double threats (wrestling and striking). Luckily, Nijem’s game didn’t run very deep, either. It was on the feet that Ferreira ended the show, when Nijem’s ill-advised shifting ran him into a big right hook that rang his bell. It was a huge win for the “BJJ guy with no striking”, knocking out a decent prospect. The knockout blow was served up on a platter from the American, but still Carlos showed some good footwork adjustments and great balance.
Ramsey’s shifting combo was awful. Unless you’re Pacquiao, or comparably skilled striker, don’t start to shift from a back hand. However, Carlos’ reaction was great, so let’s focus on that.
Even though he missed his left hook counter, he didn’t overextend. That’s important, because if he put everything into it and lost his balance, he wouldn’t have been in a good position to come back with the right hook to catch Nijem. Carlos didn’t overextend because he understood from the start what was happening in this sequence. As soon as Nijem moved forward, Carlos took a small back step, but changed his right foot’s angle (toes pointing to the right, to toes pointing towards Ramsey). That little move allowed Carlos to have a strong base to transfer all his weight in that right hook. You can notice that instead of planting both feet on the ground to land a bomb, he moved his left foot way back so that he ended up in southpaw as the punch connects.
Because of this, as his left foot moves back, his hips are transferring his body weight into the punch, and it allows him to stay at the same distance with Ramsey, allowing him to time and gauge that right hook perfectly. Carlos didn’t need power to hurt Nijem, he only needed to use his movement to make him step into the counter. Once again, it was quick and smooth. That was the perfect counter.
BACK TO BACK DEFEATS
Carlos then fought three southpaws in a row, losing the first two fights. The first defeat came at the hands of the underappreciated Beneil Dariush. Carlos was once again the favorite, despite taking this complicated bout on short notice.
Early in the fight, Dariush kicked Ferreira (mixing them low and to the head) and although Ferreira blocked most coming high, the low kicks were a big issue for him. It felt like he was never kicked like that before. Two minutes into the fight, he had already switched to southpaw. Ferreira’s only success in that round came from the clinch, as he got wrist control on Dariush and used it to elbow the Persian in the face.
Ferreira was getting picked apart on the feet, and his only avenue was blitzing. Ferreira liked those long, extended exchanges where he was more willing to stand and trade than Dariush. Eventually in rounds 2 and 3 Dariush completely ground out Ferreira, who had no answer for Beneil’s top game control. The Brazilian known for his great jiu-jitsu was controlled against the cage and on his back. Dariush never tried to go further than half guard, and although it wasn’t the most exciting game plan, it sure worked. It’s important to note than CDF didn’t look in the best shape of his life for this short notice fight, and that he never seemed able to deal with Dariush’s all around game.
Undefeated no more, Carlos Diego Ferreira would then welcome Dustin Poirier to the lightweight division.
His fight with Poirier may have lasted only little more than three minutes, but it was enough to see improvement in Ferreira. Carlos entered the fight pressuring the Diamond, it took only seven seconds before Dustin’s back touched the cage, as Carlos’ assault of straight punches and kicks backed up the Thugjitsu fighter. He cut the cage well, forcing Dustin to walk into solid left hands, and when the Diamond fired back, Carlos wasn’t scared to brawl with him, using the moment to change levels.
Carlos brought the fight to Dustin and even tagged him a couple times, but playing that game with Poirier is a gamble more than a calculated risk. Poirier caught Ferreira coming in with a left hand that dropped him. Ferreira wrestled his way off of the ground, but it was only a matter of time before the Diamond closed the show.
After two defeats in a row for the Amazon kid, he hired a new head coach for this fight in Sayif Saud. Carlos, who thus far had trained at his own gym with only a boxing coach and his wife as a nutritionist and S&C coach, needed guidance. Sayif Saud, step by step, began to turn Carlos Diego Ferreira into a complete mixed martial artist.
FORTIS MMA
Moving to Fortis MMA in Dallas was an excellent move for Carlos. Sayif Saud studied wrestling for three years with the great Mike Van Arsdale (former NCAA Division 1 champion) in Albuquerque. Sayif studied martial arts since he was three years old, and he has a black belt in Judo. Saud had to end his promising MMA career due to injuries, but he was undefeated as a pro and as an amateur.
In that gym, Ferreira would also find a way of life that reminded him of his native Brazil, everybody was humble and there was a consistent focus on being a team, not just a place where individual fighters train for their own fights. Carlos felt good there, and improved demonstrably in short time.
The third southpaw opponent in a row for CDF was Olivier Aubin-Mercier, who was on a three fight win streak. The open stance matchup led OAM to use his best weapon, the left kick to the body, a lot, and CDF still had very few answers for it. He switched stances here and there until Coach Sayif Saud told him to stay in his orthodox stance, and just to use his double jabs and pressure the young Canadian.
A good soldier, Carlos used his double jab often, followed by an uppercut or a hook. Minute by minute, CDF was breaking the Tristar fighter. In the process he ate some kicks to the head and body, but Ferreira’s relentless pressure start to tire and stress the Canadian. That fight was simple to read, OAM was winning the exchanges from the kicking range, but in the pocket he was getting battered, as Ferreira slipped his jab/back hand fairly easy, touching up OAM with counter hooks as well. CDF dominated most grappling exchanges, never missing an opportunity to hurt Olivier.
After an uppercut in the pocket, OAM was forced to clinch CDF, who had an underhook on his left arm. Carlos landed a knee and used it to pivot, attempting to free his arms, but Aubin-Mercier reacted quickly enough to lock them down. Then, CDF faked for a second underhook on OAM’s right arm, but instead grabbed his left arm, took a step back to southpaw, and hit his trusty hip toss. The technique didn’t get him to side control because of OAM’s quick adjustments, but he still made the most of the position and put his left hand behind Mercier’s head, who had no choice but to eat a knee. As OAM stood up, CDF never let go of that left hand and used it to frame off on the Canadian and land a big elbow.
Carlos defeated Olivier Aubin-Mercier by unanimous decision, as the tough young Canadian survived a difficult round 3 where he was ragdolled and smashed from back control on the ground. It was a solid performance for Ferreira, who snapped his losing streak and showed improvements in every area.
The biggest change in Ferreira was in his approach, he showed patience. In the Dustin Poirier fight, he attacked like it was the last three minutes of the bout and he was behind on the scorecards. Confusing aggression and haste is one of the most important things that Carlos has corrected since training at Fortis.
The UFC offered him Abel Trujillo. However, three weeks before the fight, USADA withdrew Carlos from the fight. Six months later he accepted a seventeen month suspension. It was a blow to the finances of the Brazilian, but it allowed him to spend a lot of time in the gym, where he could get better day after day without media attention or the pressure of a fight.
THE RETURN
After his suspension, Carlos returned to the UFC, fighting near his home in Austin. He defeated Jared Gordon in less than two minutes, and it must be said that Carlos was much better than we had ever seen. Besides accidentally kicking Gordon low two times in the first minute, it was a great fight from CDF. He put pressure on Gordon, making him fight at a very high pace, using double jabs and teeps to back him up.
But, most importantly, we finally saw feints from Ferreira that allowed him to draw Jared’s jab and counter it with right hooks. Jared wasn’t able to fight very well backwards, so he shot on Carlos, but it was denied with little effort by the Brazilian, who continued his chase. He slipped and parried Jared’s jab and the right hook behind it, countering with a stepping jab that knocked Gordon down. Carlos quickly transitioned to full mount and after Gordon gave up his back, CDF forced Gordon’s left wrist into a hammerlock and punched him until the referee stopped the fight. It was a violent beatdown over the -260 favorite.
After two great victories, Carlos was set to face John Makdessi at UFC 231 in Toronto. Unfortunately, Makdessi had to withdraw from the bout ten days before the fight. A new opponent was proposed, but during fight week this new opponent was withdrawn as well, because he was too heavy. On four days notice, it was Toronto native Kyle Nelson who made his UFC debut against Carlos.
Kyle Nelson who received a big reaction from the crowd, starting the fight strong by targeting one of the weaknesses of Ferreira going to the body with his right round kick and left teep. He was on his way to victory in those opening few minutes. However, CDF compensated for his defensive flaws with courage and tenacity. He fought through the pain and pressure of the Canadian, once again using double jabs and a front kick. It may have been a bit sloppy, but it gave him time to recover, at least until Kyle Nelson landed a big right hook that stung Ferreira.
Having had quite enough of Nelson’s striking, Ferreira timed a beautiful double leg under the jab. Now they were in Ferreira’s world, and in this world you have to live with kimura attempts, elbows, punches, savage ground and pound. Kyle survived the round, but he was battered very badly, who was growing increasingly nasty.
Carlos won the fight via TKO in the second round. He opened the round with a good 1-2 and a body kick. A few level changes were enough to confuse Kyle Nelson, who was taken down by a single switched into a double leg. It took twenty seconds for CDF to reach full mount and beat down the Canadian. Admittedly, Carlos was still embarrassed about how close he came to losing early, but we must take context into account. It is not easy to adapt to three different opponents and Nelson has since proven his worth. What I took away from this fight was the progress that Carlos has made in the wrestling department, and his incredible toughness and will, which are the most important assets of a pressure fighter. It’s a process.
THE PROCESS
Now on a three-fight win streak, Carlos fought up the rankings and took on Rustam Khabilov's six-fight win streak. Khabilov fought great fighters like Jorge Masvidal and Benson Henderson in the past, and was a -130 favorite against CDF (who unfortunately weighed in at 157 lbs). Against the former Sambo world champ, Ferreira’s 1-2s were on point. He gauged the distance very well and he didn't overextend as much as before. The head movement was nowhere to be seen, but Khabilov had all the trouble in the world to get away from thoses 1-2s. It was only a matter of time before he shot on Carlos, and he made a good entry to lock his hands and get CDF to the ground… for three seconds. CDF escaped, and once again got on the front foot to pressure with his 1-1-2s. This may be predictable, but as Khabilov backed up in straight lines from the first jab, it worked very well for the Brazilian, allowing him to cover distance with the second jab before throwing his rear hand. CDF also targeted the legs and the body of his opponent, to great success.
Khabilov (getting pieced up on the feet) shot for another takedown, and there Carlos Diego Ferreira showed that he has all the talent in the world as a grappler. Khabilov went for a single leg but Carlos trapped his left arm in a crucifix. CDF tried to lock his hands to attempt a crotch lock, but Khabilov elevated his left arm; as soon as Carlos felt that, he trapped Khabilov’s right arm when they were in the air, putting Khabilov in a terrible position. Dan Hardy said it best, “This may discourage Khabilov to shoot on Ferreira”. With both arms isolated, Khabilov took a few punches to the face as the third-degree black belt was trying to open up Khabilov's arms. This left Khabilov’s head vulnerable to strikes or to a choke, and with only a few seconds left on the clock, CDF got his arm under the chin of the Dagestani. In the most literal sense, Khabilov was saved by the bell.
Round 2 was very frustrating for Khabilov, who still ate double jabs all round and failed every takedown attempt (in the process eating a few nasty knees). Khabilov spent half the round looking for that perfect right hook counter, but was never close to landing it. As he realized he was losing that round, he started to put up some volume, but Carlos landed some big counters on the Sambo champion to force him back into inertia. This was a complete shutdown of Khabilov.
Even though Carlos was clearly winning, Saif Saud gave him a hard time between rounds, telling him to stay focused and to keep pressuring Khabilov. He also encouraged Carlos to get into long exchanges, instead of just double jabs from the outside. The last round was like the second one, but Carlos did a much better job at cutting the cage, which got him in great position to land some big shots when an exhausted Khabilov was against the cage. The final sequence of the fight featured a series of feints from CDF, provoking a big reaction from Khabilov, and Carlos capitalized by drawing the right hook and walking him into a big head kick.
After beating a tough Russian on a six-fight win streak, the UFC offered Diego another Russian on a six-fight win streak; however, this one, Mairbek Taisumov (7-1 in the UFC with 5 KO victories), was much more dangerous. If Khabilov answered any questions there were on Carlos' wrestling, Taisumov would do the same thing for him in the striking department.
Carlos and his team being well-aware of Taisumov's dangerous striking, Carlos spent the first minute of the bout cutting the cage, feinting, and throwing zero strikes. However, he still managed to get Taisumov back against the cage just with feints and footwork. Taisumov decided to circle towards Ferreira's right hand and kick Carlos' lead leg, and a few of those kicks landed very hard, but at least Ferreira blocked every kick that targeted his body or head. Eventually, CDF was rocked by a beautiful right hook/right uppercut, but he showed composure and slipped the following strikes. These were solid improvements defensively that let him survive the first round (where Taisumov is always the most dangerous).
Then it was time to push a higher pace, and to start the process of breaking Taisumov down. Even in round 2, he was still dangerous, and showed his ability to fight on the backfoot, but the pressure and volume (55 significant strikes to 13 in round 2; 79 to 21 in round 3) established by Carlos was just too much. Carlos never looked better on the feet and slipped/countered many of Taisumov's punches. This was by far the best version of Ferreira we have ever seen in a cage.
Beating Khabilov and Taisumov back-to-back answered a lot of questions about Ferreira. They may not be the biggest names in the division, but they both are top-15 caliber fighters, and Taisumov in particular is one of the most dangerous lightweights in the world. Carlos will never be the crispest striker, but he and his coaches at Fortis MMA found a way to integrate his striking into his game. On the grappling side, there aren’t many people in the world who are more dangerous than him, and his clinch game is also very solid (as seen earlier in his career, he loves that knee-hip toss threat).
Saturday night, he’ll have unprecedented levels of attention as he opens the main card against Anthony Pettis. It’s the true people’s main event. Showtime may have slowed down, and his confidence doesn’t always seem to be there, but he’s still super dangerous in the opening rounds. Pettis needs to create space and kick as much as possible. On the ground he’s explosive and dangerous, but his fundamentals aren’t always there. I don’t recommend for Pettis to give up his back, thinking he will reverse the position like against Charles Oliveira or Nate Diaz.
He’ll be dealing with a much more dangerous fighter on the ground. I don’t count Anthony out of this fight, but I’m confident that Carlos has become such a good pressure fighter that he’s more than capable of completely shutting down Anthony Pettis; my pick is Round 3 TKO for the kid from the Amazon.
DO NOT MISS THAT FIGHT.