LIGHTS OUT from the
#RefCam!#PFLPlayoffs
pic.twitter.com/By3mSPk89U— PFL (@PFLMMA)
August 20, 2021
Massive heavyweight Renan “Problema” Ferreira is confident that he is going to be a
problem for any opponent going forward.
After three appearances in the Professional Fighters League heavyweight
season, the most recent a 31-second knockout of Stuart
Austin on Thursday, Brazil’s Ferreira is positive about his
future with the organization. While an outing against Carl
Seumanutafa went his way by one-sided decision, a match with
countryman Fabricio
Werdum was embroiled in controversy.
During the May bout, Werdum snared his opponent in a triangle
choke, and although Ferreira tapped, referee Keith Peterson missed
it and Ferreira went on to knock Werdum out. The New Jersey State
Athletic Control Board
overturned the result to a no contest shortly after it took
place. Ferreira, speaking to Sherdog before boarding his flight to
Rio de Janeiro, was still not entirely pleased with how that turned
out, but is nevertheless optimistic about his chances at a title
next year.
“If they hadn’t changed the result of my fight with Werdum, I was
pretty sure I would be [fighting for] the million-dollar prize [in]
October,” Ferreira explained. “But God knows everything. So, I
stopped to think about ‘if’ and started to focus on positive vibes.
In PFL, anything can happen, and my job is to be well-trained to
fight and that’s what I’m doing.
Despite his frustrations about the overturned victory, the 6-foot-8
powerhouse has found a modicum of peace and revealed that revenge
is not a priority for him.
“Werdum is past,” Ferreira said. “If PFL want to make that fight,
I’ll be ready, but my focus now is the heavyweight title in
2022.”
Even though Ferreira has his sights set on next year’s tournament,
he is still preparing himself for the possibility that he needs to
step in as an alternate if the heavyweight final loses a
participant.
“Brandon
Sayles is the first alternate,” Ferreira noted. “But he got
hurt in his last fight against [Denis] Goltsov and I’m the second
alternate, I’ll be ready in case [Bruno
Henrique] Cappelozza or [Ante]
Delija gets hurt in the final. Actually, I must fight on that
card anyway.”
In that heavyweight final, a rematch between Cappelozza and Delija,
“Problema” is expecting a wild battle for as long as it lasts.
“Cappelozza is the favorite,” Ferreira stated, “[as] he already
knocked out Delija last May, but certainly Mirko Cro Cop will help
his Croatian pupil to bring another tactical game to the revenge.
It’s gonna be a war.”