LAS VEGAS – UFC lightweight Diego Ferriera has been out of action for a lot longer than he anticipated, but is now just days away from a chance to get his career back on track.

At Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 224 at the UFC Apex, Ferreira (17-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) makes his long-awaited return to the cage after over 17 months on the sidelines to face fellow veteran Michael Johnson. The lightweight bout streams on ESPN+ and opens the main card.

Ferreira was on one of the hottest streaks in the always-stacked UFC’s lightweight division from 2016-2020. During that stretch, Ferreira won six in a row, with stoppages of Jared Gordon, Kyle Nelson, and former champion Anthony Pettis. Then the calendar flipped to 2021, where things took a sharp turn for the worse as Ferreira lost three straight and suffered an injury keeping him out of action longer than expected.

“It was under my collarbone, my rib. Like a light fracture,” Ferreira told reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “It took me a real good time to recover, but now I’m back and better than ever. It took me that time to focus on myself. … I was not in a rush to get back after an injury.”

Ferreira said he slowly ramped up his training while not pressing things too hard, despite the itch of wanting to compete in the octagon. He returned to the BJJ mats to keep his skills sharp, but didn’t press it too much in the hope of avoiding a further setback.

“It was more of a focus on myself, especially after the few losses I had,” Ferreira said. “I kind of took my time to see what was going to be my focus. I took that time to talk to my family, with my coaches to see what I need to change. After the Anthony Pettis fight, I kind of thought I wasn’t supposed to be training as much. Especially being in the rankings, in there between the sharks. I was not putting that much effort no more. I was just like, ‘OK. I need to maintain.’”

As for his main card opponent Johnson (21-18 MMA, 13-14 UFC), Ferriera knows exactly what he’s about to get into, but is ready to get back into the swing of things for another run in the stacked lightweight division.

“I know Johnson’s going to bring the best out of me, and I’m expecting that,” Ferreira said. “I’m expecting that he comes like fireballs on his hands and I’ll be there to accept and take it to the deep ocean and see what the fight’s going to bring to myself.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.