The landscape of the UFC looked quite different the last time Allan Nascimento competed inside the octagon.
Back in January 2023, when “Puro Osso” secured a submission win over Carlos Hernandez, the UFC roster featured different champions in Aljamain Sterling and Francis Ngannou, Amanda Nunes was still active, and neither Alex Pereira nor Jon Jones had changed divisions yet. Much has changed since then.
After enduring the longest hiatus of his UFC tenure, spanning 868 days, Nascimento is finally set to return to the octagon this Saturday to face Jafel Filho at UFC Vegas 107. The journey back required overcoming numerous challenges.
Reflecting on the long break, Nascimento commented, “Crazy, huh? It’s very complicated, really.” He elaborated on the demanding nature of the sport: “MMA is a sport that demands a ton of physical effort. I really had some bumps on the road, some injuries and health issues in some of the fights that were booked, but thank God I’m fine now.”
After securing his second consecutive UFC victory, Nascimento’s planned bouts against Tim Elliott and Sumudaerji were canceled. Following knee surgery, he faced another setback, pulling out of a scheduled fight with Jafel Filho in August during fight week itself. His return attempt in March was also thwarted when his opponent, Asu Almabayev, was moved to a main event slot against Manel Kape.
Nascimento highlighted the inherent uncertainty of the sport, stating, “MMA is very unpredictable because you don’t work in seasons so it’s hard to periodize things. You have to stay active at all times, always waiting for a date and a fight to be booked, so you’re training for 365 days. But it’s part of the sport. It’s an aggressive competition with sometimes three or four fights a year with 300 days of training. So the odds of injuries and serious stuff happening are a bit higher.”
Although he hasn`t competed in the cage for close to 900 days, the Brazilian flyweight contender dedicated much of this period to training and development in the gym. He is now confident he will deliver a strong performance upon his return. To help manage his health issues and prevent future ones, Nascimento revealed he incorporated yoga into his routine.
Nascimento explained the benefits of yoga: “I learned how to better dose the training. I’m out for two and a half years, but I made sure to deal not only with the fight and training, but also start doing yoga. For example. It has helped me a lot. We don’t have to focus only on the fighting aspect of training, but us fighters we have to take care of our minds to be able to follow the plan in there. And yoga has helped me a lot. I think it was a huge asset for me as of late.”
Highlighting their similar skill sets, Nascimento noted that both he and Filho are accomplished submission specialists hailing from prominent Brazilian MMA gyms – Nova União and Chute Boxe, respectively. He anticipates their upcoming bout at the UFC APEX on Saturday night will be a tactical “chess match.”
Nascimento discussed their jiu-jitsu skills: “It’s hard to say ‘my [jiu-jitsu] is better’ but I feel better prepared, with my jiu-jitsu better adjusted,” he stated. “I’m a black belt under Master Barbosa so it needs no further explanation on how much this man has taught me and made my jiu-jitsu go from gi competition to MMA, for example. We know it’s different.” He continued, “I was able to show that most of the fights in my career. I think it’s going to be a chess match of maybe who makes less mistakes than who fights better, you know. We both know our qualities, our strong points, so I think that’s going down to the details. Jafel is a complete fighter. We know he trades on the feet, he likes that, and has a very polished jiu-jitsu. We both have two areas we can explore, so we’ll see who explores that better on the fight.”
