Moreno clear on his short and long term future
The flyweight has a rivalry rarely seen in the UFC. Mexico’s Brandon Moreno and Brazil’s Deiveson Figueiredo have faced each other on three consecutive occasions and it hasn’t been enough to define the best.
A majority draw at UFC 256, a knockout win for Moreno at UFC 263 and a decision win for Figueiredo at UFC 270 mark the history of the last 13 months at the top of the 125-pound division.
Moreno, who lost the belt Jan. 22 in Anaheim in the trilogy bout, has been analytical; he still thinks he won the third fight and wants the fourth whenever possible.
“I already watched the fight, four or five times and I still think I won. For me it’s not a robbery, but from my perspective I feel I won. I try to see everything as objectively as possible and put myself in the shoes of a judge who may think I lost. I try not to get discouraged, stay positive, the fight was very hard, I feel I won and at the same time I don’t want to be arrogant. We will have to review what was done wrong and be ready for what comes next”, he said in an interview with ESPN Deportes.
Although he knows he doesn’t have the ‘frying pan by the handle’, he and his team have pushed to face the ‘God of War’ again in May, as they don’t want to slow down the development of the division.
“It’s the fight I want, it’s the fight I’m going to push to the end and until I get a resounding no, the hope is there. Deiveson talked a lot, a roller coaster of emotions, first he talked about fighting in Mexico, then he got off and said what in Brazil, now that in the United States,” he explained.
Although an offer has not been put on the table, the Tijuana native knows that it is the fight that his rival also wants and the one that is most attractive for the promotion with the 125-pound title at stake.
“I heard that inside the company it’s the one they want. I saw that Deiveson wants a million and the only chance he has of getting paid is with me, they’re not going to with Askar Askarov, or (Alexandre) Pantoja or Kai Kara-France. I don’t want to hear about anything else,” Moreno said.
Despite his stance, Moreno is also aware that the promoter may take another view and give the headlining opportunity to the winner of the Askarov-Kara-France fight on March 26. If that is the case, Moreno will ask for a fight as soon as possible, as he does not want to be inactive.
The figure of $1 million and percentage of PPV sales Figueiredo asked for the fourth fight seems absurd to him for a fighter who, despite his quality, has failed to generate expectation.
“I think I’m the A-side, Deiveson is the champion, but I know I’m the one who’s going to bring the views to the fight. So I hope something good falls for me too. Speaking of money, I’m pretty dumb, so I’m thankful I have my team, Jason House, my manager and his agency Iridium, because they fight my contracts to the death. I would fight for free I think. The measure of my success is not money,” confessed the ‘Killer Baby’.
In multiple reviews of the third fight he has had, he acknowledges that he felt great physically and that he can get his belt back with minor adjustments.
“I think one of the mistakes I made was trying to knock him out. Actually, I only tried one knockdown, the only one I attacked and sacrificed I got. It goes against my nature, it’s up to me to finish fights, to put on a show, that’s why I got bonus in the last three fights with Deiveson,” he said.
Brandon was in Houston this Saturday to do a corner for his partner at Entram Gym in Tijuana, the Argentine Marcelo Rojo, who fought at UFC 271 against Kyler Phillips. He also went into coaching mode with Genaro Valdez and Masio Fullen with the intention of supporting all the teammates who supported him in his recent camps.
“I want to fight until I’m 31, because I’m young, but I started sparring and training every day when I was 12. I want to get out of this alive, have a life afterwards, I love the sport and I want to give a little back to MMA. Even though many are older than me, based on experience, I have more than many of my peers. Don’t think I do much, I don’t have the secret key to winning the fight, what I do is motivate them as much as I can,” he explained.
The decision on a historic fourth fight between Moreno and Figueiredo is still in development, but the first Mexican-born UFC champion is confident it will happen soon.
