With Amir Albazi off the card, next month’s UFC Mexico City now has a new main event.
Per a report by ESPN, the UFC’s official broadcaster, Brandon Moreno vs. Brandon Royval 2 will now headline the Fight Night event on February 24, 2024.
Earlier Thursday, Amir Albazi had announced he was forced out of the event due to injury. The bout had widely been expected to produce the next challenger in the flyweight division, though nothing had been set in stone.
“I’m out of the fight against Moreno 24th of February. I have been dealing with a serious neck injury the past weeks,” wrote Albazi on social media. “After some scans the UFC doctors decided to pull me out of the fight immediately. I want to apologize to the fans and the UFC. I will be back inshallah.”
Ex-champ Brandon Moreno (21-7-2) now gets the man who just came up short in his own title bid, Royval (15-7). “Raw Dawg” dropped a five-round unanimous decision to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 296 last month, in a lackluster bout that didn’t see the challenger really get going until late in the fight.
Moreno has not competed since losing his title to Pantoja at UFC 290 last July, with the bout ending in a split decision. The 30-year old is a two-time UFC flyweight champ, and the first Mexican champion in UFC history.
The pair’s first meeting came in November 2020; Moreno came away with a TKO win.
UFC Mexico City takes place at the Arena CDMX on February 24, 2024 with the following fights reported so far:
- Brandon Moreno vs. Brandon Royval
- Yair Rodríguez vs. Brian Ortega
- Cristian Quiñonez vs. Raoni Barcelos
- Daniel Zellhuber vs. Francisco Prado
- Manuel Torres vs. Chris Duncan
- Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Ricky Turcios
- Luis Rodriguez vs. Denys Bondar
- Jesús Santos Aguilar vs. Mateus Mendonça
- Yazmin Jauregui vs. Sam Hughes
- Edgar Chairez vs. Daniel Lacerda
- Victor Altamirano vs. Felipe dos Santos
- Muhammad Naimov vs. Erik Silva
- Farès Ziam vs. Claudio Puelles
