Apr 12, 2023

Later this year, Brandon Moreno will look to avenge two previous losses.

The two-time, reigning UFC flyweight champion will defend his title against old rival Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 290 on July 8 in Las Vegas, UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell confirmed Wednesday to ESPN. It is expected to be the co-main event of the card.

Pantoja owns two victories over Moreno prior to Moreno becoming UFC champion. One was in an exhibition on The Ultimate Fighter reality show in 2016, a submission win. The other was a pro fight and unanimous decision triumph in 2018.

ESPN has Moreno ranked No. 8 in its pound-for-pound MMA rankings. At flyweight, Moreno is No. 1 and Pantoja is No. 6.

Freak MMA first reported the news of the Moreno vs. Pantoja booking.

Moreno (21-6-2) regained the UFC flyweight title by beating Deiveson Figueiredo via third-round TKO at UFC 283 back in January. The first Mexican-born UFC champion has won two straight and has just one loss in his past 10 fights, to Figueiredo. Moreno, 29, fought Figueiredo four times (going 2-1-1) and will now be entering into this pseudo-trilogy fight with Pantoja.

Pantoja (25-5) has won three in a row, most recently a first-round submission win over Alex Perez at UFC 270 last July. The Brazilian-born fighter has won seven of his last nine fights overall. Pantoja, 32, is tied with Joseph Benavidez for the second most finishes in UFC flyweight history (6).

A featherweight title unification bout between champion Alexander Volkanovski and interim champ Yair Rodriguez is expected to be the UFC 290 main event.

Brandon moreno face old rival alexandre pantoja ufc 290

2023-04-27 00:32:09