The Unwavering Confidence of ‘The Hulk’

Brunno Ferreira only knows one response to adversity, and it involves getting up, dusting off and returning to work in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division.

The 31-year-old Brazilian TKO rep will attempt to rebound from his first professional defeat when he squares off with Phil Hawes in a featured UFC Fight Night 234 attraction this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Ferreira enters the cage carrying a 10-1 record, with the lone blemish being a 77-second knockout loss to Nursulton Ruziboev a little more than six months ago.

“We studied him and went to war, but I committed a fatal error,” Ferreira told Sherdog.com. “I got out of our strategy. I threw a low kick. Since he’s great at controlling distance and has very good timing, he caught my leg, tagged me with a cross and finished with ground-and-pound. It was bad. No one likes to lose, but I used that loss as a great learning experience. I wasn’t depressed. I only took a few days to rest. I came back to training immediately thereafter.”

The setback still stings, but it provided Ferreira with a new perspective.

“Now I’m complete since I’ve gone through everything in MMA,” he said. “I’ve knocked people out, and I’ve been knocked out myself. Nothing else will seem new to me. I grew from that loss. It’s part of our game of MMA. I came back stronger. The fire, the hunger to be champion, is even stronger now.”

Time will soon tell whether or not Ferreira can bring those words to life. The gifted but flawed Hawes steps back into the spotlight on the heels of back-to-back losses. He last appeared at UFC 288, where he yielded to punches from Ikram Aliskerov in the first round of their May 6 encounter. Hawes, 35, has never lost three fights in a row.

“The pressure is on him,” said Ferreira, who holds the rank of black belt in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. “I’m a complete athlete. I’m confident in what I do. Against him, I’m focused on letting my game go. One thing I noticed about him is the fact that he can’t absorb strikes anymore. In his last couple of fights, it only took one or two strikes to finish him. People are calling him ‘glass jaw,’ and his fights show that.”

Ferreira sees opportunity when he examines the configuration of the current 185-pound weight class and can envision a scenario where he climbs into the Top 15 sooner rather than later. First, he must secure his position on the roster.

“I wish to open up this year with a golden key,” Ferreira said. “I want to put on a show, so I can look forward to a great contract renewal with the UFC. It’s not by accident that I’m 10-1. Little by little, I’ll continue to make my name in the organization. My ultimate goal is the championship. My one loss didn’t take my focus away from that objective.”