During the bad days, UFC Fight Night 100's Cezar Ferreira considered calling it quits

A few losses and some persistent injuries can make any fighter reconsider his chosen profession. Cezar Ferreira is no different.

Ferreira was crowned “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” season champ in 2012, and he won four of his first fight fights to move up the middleweight ranks.

Now, though, Ferreira (10-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) hopes he can continue a recent career revival when he meets middleweight Jack Hermansson (14-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 100 preliminary card. The event airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass from Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo.

Following that initial success in the UFC, “Mutante” suffered back-to-back losses and reconsidered his career.

“During the past four years, I endured some critical moments in my career,” he told MMAjunkie. “I came close to quitting due to a series of injuries, including spinal surgery. Thankfully, I was able to overcome. Since I was a child, I’ve been faced with change, and I’ve had to deal with that.

“After suffering back-to-back losses, I changed everything in my career. I even became my own manager. I joined up with a new team. It’s a new environment with new trainers. Now I’m on an upswing. But I don’t take all credit. I have an entire team behind me. At MMA Masters I work with coaches Cesar Carneiro and Daniel Valverde. They remolded me as a fighter. And, at home, my wife and children grant me extra motivation.”

Ferreira, who’s earned decision victories over Oluwale Bamgbose and Anthony Smith in his two most recent bouts, wants to keep things rolling on Saturday.

“I did well over these last four years,” he said. “I haven’t yet reached my apex. I am confident I’ll be victorious in my next fight, and I’ll be ranked and facing top opponents by next year. My focus is to be No. 1 – the champion. It’s a painful road, and we must travel it with humility and hard work.”

The recent victory over Smith, who entered the bout on a lengthy winning streak, was the proof Ferreira needed that his recent changes have been working.

“I’ve been working with coaches (Cesar Carneiro and Daniel Valverde), as well as Olympic gold-medalist wrestler Kenny Monday,” he said. “He’s a multiple-time world champion. He helped improve my takedown game. Together, we worked on new skills, as well as those things I already did well.

“Anthony Smith was coming off about a 10-fight win streak when I faced him. We defeated him. But my team and I aren’t satisfied, even though I won. I haven’t been able to demonstrate all techniques we’ve practiced in the gym. Often, fighters don’t change anything after a win. But we agreed to work together, so I can deliver an even better performance in the future.”

If he can defeat Hermansson, a former longtime Cage Warriors champion, Ferreira said he’ll be ready for bigger things. After all, Hermansson is on a nine-fight winning streak, which included a UFC-debut win over Scott Askham in September.

“Jack Hermansson is a tough guy,” he said. “His career is similar to Anthony Smith’s, before Anthony faced me. We’ve watched all his fights. Anything he does, I’ll be able to predict, and I’ll have a counter for it. Of course, we won’t underestimate him. I’ll face him as if a world title was on the line. One thing I can say is that I’ll be knocking him out. He’ll be leaving the cage knocked out.

” … After I win, I’ll certainly call out a ranked opponent. I feel I will be deserving of that.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 100, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.