https://www.mmanews.com/news/brandon-moreno-vs-alexandre-pantoja-set-for-ufc-290-on-july-8
Brandon Moreno’s second reign on the flyweight throne is slated to meet its first challenger this summer.
As expected, the Mexican will put the gold on the line against #2-ranked contender Alexandre Pantoja, who was initially expected to battle Moreno for the title in December 2021 before an injury paved the way for Deiveson Figueiredo to continue his feud with “The Assassin Baby.”
Now, following Moreno’s recapturing of the belt this past January in Rio de Janeiro and his backstage altercation with Pantoja, the stage is set for “The Cannibal” to get his long-awaited opportunity.
On Wednesday, ESPN MMA confirmed a report from Instagram account @freak.mma, which revealed that Moreno vs. Pantoja is set to feature on the UFC 290 card. The event will conclude International Fight Week on April 8.
Moreno Looks To Pull One Back On Pantoja
When Moreno (21-6-2) and Pantoja (25-5) collide this summer, it won’t be the first time that the two elite flyweights have shared the cage. In fact, much like Israel Adesanya this past weekend, the Mexican will enter the contest more than one down on his Brazilian counterpart.
In addition to Pantoja recording a submission victory over Moreno during their time on The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions back in 2016*,* “The Cannibal” repeated the feat in a professional contest two years later at UFC Fight Night 129, that time on the scorecards
Having grown as a competitor and enjoyed two stints with UFC gold in his possession since, Moreno will be looking to pull one back on his two-time rival come fight night at T-Mobile Arena this July.
The matchup marks the second championship contest to be added to the pay-per-view event, with a featherweight unification showdown between champion Alexander Volkanovski and interim titleholder Yair Rodríguez expected to headline.
With this addition, the fights currently expected to take place at UFC 290 on July 8 are as follows:
- Alexander Volkanovski (C) vs. Yair Rodríguez (featherweight championship)
- Brandon Moreno (C) vs. Alexandre Pantoja (flyweight championship)
- Bo Nickal vs. Tresean Gore (middleweight)
Hell yeah
While Brandon Moreno will look to pick up his first win against Alexandre Pantoja in his next title defense, the current UFC flyweight champ is confident Pantoja hasn’t seen anywhere near his best game in their two previous bouts.
The third meeting between the pairing will take place at UFC 290 on July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. They first faced one another during season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2016 and Pantoja got the submission win. In the rematch, Pantoja got a unanimous decision win at UFC Fight Night 129 a little over two years later. This time around, Moreno plans to show something Pantoja hasn’t seen from him.
“I’ve said this before and I’m going to say this right now — he never fought against the best Brandon Moreno when we fought each other,” Moreno said on The MMA Hour. “But right now I’m just focused on him. I’m just training for him, doing the game plan for him and I’m ready, man.
Following Moreno’s championship unification win over Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 283 in January, Pantoja congratulated Moreno backstage before challenging him for his next outing. Moreno shrugged it off, somewhat feeling like Pantoja should’ve given him his space to celebrate the victory.
Now, Pantoja — a winner of three straight — will look to put his money where his mouth is in the event that caps off the promotion’s International Fight Week. While both fighters are different than the second bout from over five years ago, Moreno feels there is one intangible in play that will make the difference.
“I mean, I can talk about a lot of different things like the technical part, the, the mental part, whatever, but the real difference for this fight will be [that] I’m a better athlete,” Moreno said on The MMA Hour. “I’m a better athlete and I’ll show that in July.”