Brunno Ferreira Expects to Show New Tools vs. Phil Hawes at UFC Fight Night 234

Brunno Ferreira has learned valuable lessons from defeat.

After an impressive knockout of Gregory Rodrigues in his promotional debut at UFC 283, Brunno Ferreira lost for the first time in his career, falling to Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC on ESPN 48 this past July.

On Saturday, the Brazilian known as “The Hulk” will attempt to return to the win column against Phil Hawes in a middleweight bout at UFC Fight Night 234. He believes the KO loss to Ruziboev was important to his growth as a fighter.

"That loss made me stronger because it helped to improve me as a fighter,” Ferreira told Sherdog.com. “I corrected mistakes I used to make and added new tools to my game, and I’m going to show that in the Octagon on Saturday.

According to his head coach Andre Dida, Ferreira may get to show his judo black belt skills for the first time.

Brunno is like a dream fighter to any trainer,” Dida said. “… He only showed his knockout power in the UFC, but actually he comes from judo and has a great ground game. We did a game plan for Hawes where he will probably show different tools.”

Regardless of where the fight goes, Ferreira’s primary goal is to avoid going to the scorecards.

"I was able to do a complete camp of three months for this fight where we were able to study the main holes in my opponent's game, and we worked hard on that,” he said. “Anything can happen in an MMA fight, but our plan is to knock out or submit him in the first round.”