Renan Ferreira Focused on Future, Not Past in PFL Tournament

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.”