“I think it’s the most important victory in my career,” he said of his close, but, unanimous win in Brazil. “I deserve to fight for the title next. If the company wants a rematch between Joe (Benavidez) and (Deiveson) Figueiredo, it’s fine for me. But after that, I think I deserve to fight for the title.”
Figueiredo and Benavidez were expected to clear all the cloudy skies in the division in February, but Figueiredo missed weight, leaving the title up for grabs for Benavidez only. Then Figueiredo stopped Benavidez in the second round, but a clash of heads just before the finish injected a slight dose of controversy into the end result.
Still following along? The flyweight title vacated by Henry Cejudo remains vacant, there’s talk of a possible rematch between Figueiredo and Benavidez, and Moreno, well, he escaped any controversy by getting the right call in a close fight.
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“I was really confident of my victory,” said Moreno. “I’ve had two or three years as an analyst for the UFC in Spanish, and I understand the rules of mixed martial arts. So the guy who does more damage to his opponent is the guy who is supposed to win. So all my combinations, my whole game plan, when I was in his guard I was trying to throw some good elbows, all my damage was really good. And he wasn’t doing any damage to me. When he was on top of me, he just held the position and that’s it. He never tried to throw punches with power, so I was real confident in that moment.”
The judges rewarded Moreno for not only the damage done and his effective game plan, but for a more disciplined and well-rounded approach to the fight. That’s been a progression going on since his last defeat to Alexandre Pantoja in 2018, and following that loss, he’s unbeaten, going 3-0-1.
