Brandon Moreno will be defending his belt against Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 290 in July.
Fresh off regaining his UFC title at UFC 283, flyweight champion Brandon Moreno has his next assignment. In a report by ESPN, Moreno will be taking on Alexandre Pantoja this summer at UFC 290. The flyweight division is stacked with talent and until now it was not clear who would be next for Moreno. He has spent the better part of the last three years facing former champion Deiveson Figueiredo four times but now will be moving ahead with the rest of the division.
UFC 290 will take place on July 8, which is International Fight Week. This bout will not be the headliner as a featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez has been set for this card. Also, There have been talks ongoing to have heavyweight champion Jon Jones vs. former champ Stipe Miocic on that card as well.
Brandon Moreno vs. Alexandre Pantoja set for UFC 290 on July 8
Moreno has been pushing for the UFC to hold an event in his home country of Mexico since becoming the champion again. Right now there are three Mexican-born champions in the UFC. Dana White was interested in holding an event in Mexico City to showcase these three, Morneo, Yair Rodriguez, and Alexa Grasso, but plans have been stalled.
Pantoja is currently ranked number two in the division behind Figueiredo. He has won his last three fights in a row and is now setting himself up for his first title fight. Pantoja holds a win over Moreno from when they fought back in 2018. Since the last meeting, Moreno has only lost one fight.
The entire UFC 290 fight card to this point is as follows:
- Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs. Yair Rodríguez (ic)
- Brandon Moreno (c) vs Alexandre Pantoja
- Bo Nickal vs. Tresean Gore
