Luis Aguiar captured the Jungle Fight flyweight championship in 2024 and hoped that it would lead him to one of the Dana White\u2019s Contender Series cards in the following year. When that didn\u2019t happen, he set out to collect more belts to make that destiny inevitable.<\/p>\n
The Pitbull Brothers product faces fellow Brazilian flyweight prospect Marcos Degli for his interim title in the main event of LFA 225, which goes down Friday night in Brasilia, to determine Brazil\u2019s best up-and-comer at flyweight and, in Aguiar\u2019s mind, finally punch his ticket to the UFC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy to be fighting for the LFA belt,\u201d Aguiar told MMA Fighting. \u201cIt\u2019s the biggest organization outside the UFC, basically. It\u2019s one of the main gateways [to the UFC] and I\u2019m extremely happy to be there, fighting for the title and having the opportunity to keep moving forward in my career. Like you said, we\u2019ve already won some regional belts and we keep climbing the ladder. God willing, we\u2019ll get to the UFC.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aguiar said he\u2019s had \u201ccontractual issues\u201d \u2014 but \u201cno bad blood\u201d \u2014 with Jungle Fight and that was why he opted not to continue with the promotion after winning the title in 2024. Instead, he \u201cwaited for the Contender Series window and it ended up not happening, then we kept moving forward and this LFA opportunity came up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aguiar is riding a seven-fight win streak with a 100 percent finishing rate, and Degli enters the cage Friday night with 11 victories in a row and 10 stoppages, finishing both of his latest opponents in LFA title bouts in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a very tough athlete, we\u2019re training hard for this, and for sure we\u2019re going to put on a show,\u201d Aguiar said. \u201cI believe that both he and I are already on the UFC\u2019s radar today. Because of LFA\u2019s connection with the UFC, I believe he would be the first one to be called from Brazil, let\u2019s say, so we\u2019re going to fight for that first spot. Whoever wins will probably get called to the Contender Series or straight to the UFC.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aguiar wouldn\u2019t say this is the biggest and most important fight of his career because \u201ceverything is a process\u201d and every single match up until this point has built a reputation to earn him a shot at a belt.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean, however, that he respects \u201cTailandes\u201d as a top opposition.<\/p>\n