Brandon Moreno and his future rivals.
The UFC has a new flyweight champion, Mexican Brandon Moreno, who after a six-month camp, wants to return in October or November for his first defense.
Although the obvious goal is to bring the belt to Mexico City, where it was already stellar in 2017, the promotion knows that the conditions to bring a numbered event could still take several months.
In the meantime, the possibilities for the Mexican seem wide, here we review the likely opponents, among them a former teammate and another with whom he has a pending account.
Askar Askarov
The Russian remains undefeated and has the arguments to ask for a championship fight with the Mexican. They faced each other in September 2019, in the fight that marked Brandon’s return to the UFC, with a controversial result, as the cards scored a split draw.
Since then, he overcame high-profile opponents such as Tim Elliott, Alexandre Pantoja and Joseph Benavidez.
Henry Cejudo
The Money Fight. Brandon lived and trained with him for months before they entered The Ultimate Fighter house when Cejudo was a trainer, but Brandon ended up on the rival team with Benavidez, with whom he became good friends.
After Moreno’s win, the Tijuana native caught up with Henry and acknowledged how important his help was in getting to UFC and Cejudo responded, “We did it together, but you’re going to hear from me very soon.”
Deiveson Figueiredo
The Brazilian acknowledged Moreno’s victory and asked to close the trilogy. They had a great fight in December, but he was widely outclassed at UFC 263.
He must make a decision with his team, because at 33 years old his body is suffering more and more with the weight cuts at 125 pounds and could be one of the reasons for his poor performance in the rematch, as he was close to fading at the official weigh-in, to which he showed up at the last minute of the window.
His track record backs him up, but he can also stand out at bantamweight.
Cody Garbrandt
He has never fought at 125 pounds, but the UFC had designated him as a challenger at the end of 2020. A biceps injury took the opportunity away from the former bantamweight champion, who is coming off a loss to Rob Font.
Promotionally it could be very appealing, as Grabrandt’s style opens up to knock out or get knocked out and Brandon’s boxing keeps getting better and better.
Alex Perez
Although the Team Oyama fighter is coming off a loss, he was scheduled to be Moreno’s opponent at UFC 255 in November 2020 before Garbrandt announced his departure.
He remains in the top five in the division, has won three of his last five fights and was the first Dana White Contender Series program graduate to make it all the way to a headlining bout when he faced Figueiredo.
