Deiveson Figueiredo approaching shot at second UFC title if he gets past Petr Yan

Dating back to the days when he watched Pride FC, Deiveson Figueiredo has been enamored of fighter nicknames.He needed one for himself and, despite not being a big fan of the critically acclaimed, uber-violent video games series, gravitated to Kratos, the eponymous “God of War.”Thus, “Deus da Guerra” — the game’s title roughly translated to Portuguese — was born, and the Brazilian son of a farmer rained chaos upon the UFC flyweight division for years, eventually winning and defending the championship and forming one half of a legendary tetralogy of fights against Brandon Moreno.“My kids like that much more because of the game, but I just identify myself with that character,” Figueiredo explained via interpreter to The Post this week regarding Kratos, whose striking image of pale white skin and bright red swash across his eye and head the fighter mimics with bleached hair and with crimson streak.“I like the idea of painting.

I like the idea of just looking like Kratos.I like the whole ‘God of War’ concept.”Much as Kratos, in the games, has put together an incredible second act slaying Norse gods in recent titles after mowing down the Greek pantheon in the original trilogy, Figueiredo is well on his way to conquering a second weight class.Figueiredo (24-3, 18 finishes) will be one step closer if he defeats former bantamweight champion Petr Yan in a UFC Fight Night (more like “Fight Morning” stateside) on Saturday (6 p.m.

Eastern, ESPN+) in Macau, China. Already 3-0 at 135 pounds after leaving his former, lighter weight class behind and with wins over ex-champ Cody Garbrandt and 2024 bantamweight title challenger Marlon Vera under his belt this year, Figueiredo’s name already is on the lips of current champ Merab Dvalishvili.Though the UFC appears to be heading toward matching Dvalishvili against unbeaten Umar Nurmagomedov for his first title defense, it wouldn’t be a stunner to see Saturday’s victor leapfrog his way into a champi...