This past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 283, we saw promotional history as the flyweight title was on the line. For the fourth time, Brandon Moreno (21-6-2) and Deiveson Figueiredo (21-3-1) met for the fourth time for the flyweight championship.
The first fight resulted in a draw. Moreno finished Figueiredo in the second fight and last year Figueiredo won a close split decision to win the title back. In that third fight, Figueiredo trained exclusively with Henry Cejudo to prepare for the fight and it honestly looked like he had figured out Brandon Moreno.
However, he decided to train in Brazil for this fight due to being homesick in that third camp. Well, that turned out to be a bad decision in regards to his performance. Brandon Moreno completely outclassed Figueiredo at UFC 283.
From the speed to the mixing up of attacks, Figueiredo couldn’t get anything going and Moreno was all over him. In the third round, Moreno landed a devastating shot that closed the eye of Figueiredo. It was bad enough for them to stop the fight in between rounds and award the title to Moreno.
What’s next after UFC 283
The Moreno – Figueiredo rivalry is officially closed with Moreno winning this fourth fight and Figueiredo announcing that he was moving up to flyweight. Figueiredo appeared to be heading down the path to flyweight immortality before running into “The Assassin Baby”.
Now, Brandon Moreno is the king of the UFC’s flyweight division and he’s ready to take on a new challenger. While it would be nice to get someone fresh and new in the octagon with Moreno, his next opponent and the man next in line is someone Moreno is very familiar with.
Moreno’s first title defense is going to come against Alexandre Pantoja. Pantoja is on a three-fight winning streak and has a claim to the next title shot. However, he has another thing going for him. He’s fought Moreno twice before and has won both times.
He stopped Moreno on The Ultimate Fighter, then he defeated him again by decision in the UFC. I would expect these two to fight sometime in the late spring or early summer months.