Degli accuses Raposo of 'padded record' and vows violent finish at UFC Vegas 124

Marcos Degli has gone into UFC Vegas 124 with a blunt message for Mitch Raposo: the UFC wants you gone, and he is the man to make it happen.

The Brazilian flyweight, nicknamed “Tailandes”, arrives at Saturday’s bout on a 13-fight winning streak that includes 12 stoppages. A former LFA flyweight champion, Degli earned his UFC contract with a rear-naked choke win over Paris Moran on the Dana White Contender Series this past September.

Raposo enters the contest at 2-2 in the UFC, with all four of his promotional appearances going the distance. His two wins came against Azat Maksum and Allan Nascimento. Degli views that decision-heavy record as evidence of a fighter who has been carefully managed against limited opposition.

“He already has some experience in the organization, but he doesn’t deliver many finishes,” Degli told MMA Fighting. “Most of his fights go to a decision, and the ones he finished early in his career were guys who had, like, four wins and over 20 losses. I believe he had a padded record, and we’re not like that. We fought the toughest guys in Brazil. The birthplace of MMA is Brazil, and we’ve been tested a lot more than he has.”

Raposo did stop five of his seven pre-UFC opponents, though those fighters carried a combined record of 24-28-1 at the time. Degli’s own LFA run included knockout title wins over Lincon Santos (9-2), Matheus Severino (14-4), and Luis Aguiar (9-1) — a sequence he points to as proof of a far sterner test.

Despite the pointed criticism, Degli frames the matchup as a statement opportunity rather than a grudge fight. He believes the UFC is backing him as a future star and has deliberately placed him against a ranked opponent to accelerate his rise.

“I feel like the UFC really believes in the hype of Marcos Tailandes,” he said. “They’re putting me up against a top-12 ranked fighter, so they see Marcos Tailandes as a superstar in the making. And we’re going to exceed their expectations. I believe the UFC wants us to send this guy packing. A guy with four fights, all four going to decisions, for God’s sake.”

Degli says his team has completed a detailed breakdown of Raposo’s game and identified clear vulnerabilities. He expects Raposo to come out throwing high volume in the opening round before fading under pressure.

“He works mostly with his hands, throws a lot of volume, but he doesn’t have the kind of punching power that catches guys,” Degli said. “When he feels pressured, he tends to shoot for a double leg. But even though he’s a black belt, he doesn’t have that effective grappling game that allows him to control opponents and finish them. We’re going to neutralize his movement, hurt him little by little, and get that knockout.”

Should he win convincingly, Degli has already signalled his next target: a fight with former flyweight champion Brandon Moreno.