Diego Ferreira earned the biggest victory of his career at UFC 246, submitting former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis at UFC 246.
Ferreira set the tone early on with an unusually aggressive pace. While he took some shots from Pettis, Ferreira was able to close the gap and take away his opponent's weapons with strong grappling. Ferreira took Pettis' back early in the second round and took the fight to the ground where he used his Brazilian jiu-jitsu background to advance his position and set up the rear naked choke.
With no hope of escape, Pettis was forced to tap out, handing Ferreira his sixth straight win. It was Pettis' first loss by submission of his career.
"My dream is getting into the rankings, so now I think I will take Anthony’s spot and be close to the top 10," Ferreira said after the fight.
Although Pettis has now dropped two-straight fights, a win over the No. 11-ranked lightweight will likely propel Ferreira into at least the top 15 of what is a very deep division.