Salt Lake City, UT — UFC interim flyweight champ Brandon Moreno is in the midst of a whirlwind media tour.
Moreno (20-6-2) claimed interim gold with a third-round TKO of Kai Kara-France at UFC 277 in Dallas last month. It’s a win that has essentially cemented a fourth fight with rival Deiveson Figueiredo; the pair’s career series is currently even at 1-1-1.
Since defeating Kara-France, Moreno has appeared at the UFC San Diego card, then made a stop in L.A. before heading to Salt Lake City for UFC 278 this past weekend. Next up, he’ll be in Paris, France for the UFC’s debut there in September, after which he’ll head to Spain, an emerging market for the promotion. “It’s a new market for the UFC, but it’s a huge market,” the Mexican star told media outlets including Cageside Press at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City this past weekend. “Hopefully in the future they can put more eyes in Spain, because for example, I do my podcast in Spanish, and a lot of people in Spain hear my podcast.”
There’s another location that could be in Moreno’s future, however: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The UFC has announced their return to Rio in January, and that more or less lines up with Moreno’s desire to return to action around the end of the year. A fourth fight with Figueiredo there, in the Brazilian’s own back yard, has Moreno excited.
“Let’s go!” he exclaimed. “It’s like Rocky IV, man. I want to go to Rio now man. First of all, it was like ‘aww man’ because it’s hard to go to another far country right? I don’t know, like nine hour flight, then different hours, different food, everything is very hard when you go to a whole different country. But man, I don’t know. I’m just trying to do the positive things. Like now, I’m so excited to go to Rio.”
Moreno knows that the fans in Rio will be vocal, and chanting. And he appears to be just fine with that, again likening the fight to Rocky’s cinematic showdown with Ivan Drago. “Rocky IV is in my mind right now when people say Rio.”
Watch the full media scrum with Brandon Moreno at UFC 278 above.
