Dallas, TX – The former UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno enters his fourth straight title fight as he takes on Kai Kara-France as the co-main event of UFC 277 on Saturday night.
Moreno took a breath, thought about his answer, and then spoke.
“It’s very special for me to be always the main event, co-main event, that’s something important in my career and for my legacy too. Obviously I’m trying to be focused just on the fight and Kai Kara-France. I can’t forget the three-round fight. Now every single training camp is like a little bit more hard,” Moreno told the media on Wednesday.
Current champion, and the man who beat Moreno for the belt, is Deiveson Figueiredo is out for a while with injuries. To wait for him to heal up and run it back for the fourth time wasn’t something Moreno was willing to do.
“I didn’t want to wait. Last year I fought in January one time. This year I fought in January and then no fight? I just wanted to fight. I talked with my manager, I talked with the UFC, like ‘Hey please give me the fight for the title’ and if not, ok,” Moreno said.
“But I want to fight. I want to be active. UFC really wanted that fight between Deiveson and I, but….I don’t want to say he’s lying or whatever, but Deiveson started to put a lot of excuses.”
Figueiredo’s team has been changing after moving to Fight Ready to train under former flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo, and just recently changed management as well.
“If he’s really injured I wish him a speedy recovery, but before that he start to lie about me. About my training partners, the racist comments, that stuff. Before that he started to ask for more money from the company (UFC). The company said no and then everything started to come,” Moreno said with a frustrated look on his face.
“So I don’t know. Right now I’m very focused on Kai Kara-France. He’s very dangerous and I said this before. I want to say this right now. I need to be focused on him because he’s dangerous.”
Moreno expressed respect for Kara-France and mentioned that his previous opponents took him lightly and that wasn’t a mistake he was willing to make.
Rematching Kara-France after their fight in 2019 Moreno spoke on what he saw as improvements in his opponent.
“His confidence. He looks like (he has) more confidence, more brave in the moment when he step up to the octagon. Better decisions. That makes a fighter very dangerous,” Moreno said.
“I’m expecting, maybe not the same fight than the last fight in 2019, but I’m expecting fireworks.”
Watch the full UFC 277 media day appearance by Brandon Moreno above. The event takes place this Saturday, July 30, 2022 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.
