Renan Ferreira is known as \u201cProblema\u201d, a 260-pound \u201cproblem\u201d for his opponents in MMA cages, and he\u2019s not surprised that opponents don\u2019t want to stand and trade punches with him after some vicious knockouts.<\/p>\n
The 2023 PFL season winner stopped opponents in all but one of his PFL wins but saw both Francis Ngannou and Vadim Nemkov shoot for takedowns to secure victories in his past couple of bouts. His next foe is Sergey Bilostenniy, a Russian heavyweight with nine of 14 MMA wins coming by way of knockout, and Ferreira believes it\u2019s \u201ca style that matches up well.\u201d<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean, however, that \u201cProblema\u201d is expecting a pure striking contest Saturday night at PFL Sioux Falls.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a fast guy, he moves well,\u201d Ferreira told MMA Fighting. \u201cHe\u2019s not that big, he\u2019s more of a lighter guy too, so it\u2019s a good fight. But it is what it is. Everyone who fights me wants to grapple, wants to wrestle, so I\u2019m already aware of that. From now on I\u2019m gonna turn into a wrestler in this sh*t [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople know my strengths,\u201d he continued. \u201cI have good distance, good movement, and I can counter very well. They don\u2019t want to take risks. They want to get into a grappling game, close the distance \u2014 where they have a bit more advantage \u2014, and reduce my power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferreira has used takedowns in past fights, too, and he knows it works when you\u2019re talented enough to use it to your advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always train grappling, wrestling, everything, and we\u2019re ready for all areas,\u201d Ferreira said. \u201cHeavyweight is no joke, man. Once someone ends up on top, if they\u2019ve got heavy hips and know how to position and strike from the top, it\u2019s hard for the opponent to get back up. Every time I\u2019ve been on top, nobody gets up. It\u2019s complicated, but I\u2019m ready, man.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old heavyweight said he feels no pressure being back to the cage after consecutive defeats. Instead, he chooses to stay \u201cfocused on what\u2019s ahead\u201d in PFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had those setbacks, but they were against elite guys, the very top of the top,\u201d Ferreira said. \u201cJust having the opportunity to be there and fight those guys already puts me in a different position because not everyone gets there. I\u2019m good, no pressure at all. I really want to get back on the winning track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferreira respects Bilostenniy as \u201ca tough opponent who wants to beat a champion\u201d and make a name for himself in PFL, and that\u2019s why he worked very hard at American Top Team in Florida to be \u201cready for a war.\u201d If everything goes right Saturday night, \u201cProblema\u201d feels he could get a rematch with Nemkov for heavyweight gold.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know I\u2019m a big name in the PFL,\u201d Ferreira said. \u201cI\u2019ve delivered great performances here, helped the promotion grow a lot. People like watching me fight, my aggressive style sells. Everything is there for me to get back on track and earn another title shot. It\u2019s a big opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Renan Ferreira is known as \u201cProblema\u201d, a 260-pound \u201cproblem\u201d for his opponents in MMA cages, and he\u2019s not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,5963,7613,85],"class_list":["post-645609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-pfl","tag-pfl-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}