Veteran fighter Diego Brandao is actively pursuing a return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
After spending several years competing internationally, primarily in Russia and surrounding areas, often outside his preferred weight class, Brandao saw his professional record change significantly. His record dropped from 20-11 when he departed the UFC in 2016 to 29-22 by this year. Reaching a turning point, he decided it was time for a change.
A former UFC competitor and winner of The Ultimate Fighter reality series, Brandao resolved to “get his life back on track.” This involved leaving those international promotions and returning to North America with a clear objective: to prove he still possesses the skills to compete in the UFC. To demonstrate this, the 38-year-old agreed to face challenging prospects in the United States.
In March, Brandao faced featherweight prospect Jamie Siraj, who held a 12-2 record. Brandao secured a spectacular first-round knockout victory with a spinning wheel kick, a finish that went viral and earned him the Tuff-N-Uff belt. Just this past Sunday, only four miles from where Ilia Topuria made history at UFC 317, Brandao successfully defended his title against Canaan Kawaihae, a younger Contender Series veteran, once again winning impressively via wheel kick knockout.
“I think the UFC is going to call,” Brandao told MMA Fighting on Tuesday night. “We’ll talk to them tomorrow and see what they thought [of the fight]. Sean Shelby was there but people wouldn’t leave him be, there was a bunch of people around him, so he left before the co-main event.”
Brandao revealed that UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby was the primary motivation behind his decision to stop fighting in Russia and focus on a UFC return.
“I left the Russian money because I went to Las Vegas and asked Sean Shelby what was missing for me to be back [to the UFC],” Brandao explained. “[He said] ‘Diego, leave Russia and fight in your weight class. Knock three people out and call me.’ [I said] ‘F*ck, why didn’t you tell me that a while ago?’ First fight, killed the man. Second one, boom, it’s over. The man said three fights? Let’s go. My head is on that third fight because Sean Shelby is a man of his word. He said that, so he’ll do what he said.”
“Dana White has already cleared me [to go back], but Sean Shelby is the deal,” Brandao continued, referencing the UFC President. “I know Dana White can put me back there if he wants to, but there’s a process. Dana White won’t open the doors for me because he knows how I am, my past. ‘I’ll put Diego here easily and he can mess things up. No, let me see if he really wants it. Let him work.’ I believe that’s how Dana thinks. And I’m not as important as Conor McGregor to call Dana White like that.”
“And I like this way, to fight, because that’s how you appreciate things,” he added about his current path. “If I have to fight a third fight, I’ll go for it with hunger because then they will see and know it. They want to see me like that, in a war, fighting, because they won’t just put him back in there like that. They know who I am, they know I need to work hard to value it. They know that.”
Brandao emphasized that he has matured significantly since his previous tenure in the UFC, both as an athlete and a person. Now focusing on his fighting career rather than out-of-cage issues and consistently defeating prospects, Brandao indicated that he would likely defend his Tuff-N-Uff featherweight belt in November against UFC, Bellator, and PFL veteran Kai Kamaka III if the call from the UFC doesn`t come before then.
“Hawaii, BJ [Penn] is the only one from there that beats me, when we trained together,” Brandao commented, referencing the legendary Hawaiian fighter. “The others, no chance. I’ll finish him.”
Wesley Dunham