Brandon Moreno details making of Deiveson Figueiredo title fight hours after UFC 255

Brandon Moreno’s first UFC title fight was made under unprecedented conditions.

Moreno got the call to fight flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo hours after they competed and won their respective bouts this past Saturday night at UFC 255 in Las Vegas.

Moreno (18-5-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC) stopped Brandon Royval by first-round TKO, while Figueiredo (20-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) defended his belt against Alex Perez with a first-round guillotine choke submission.

That same night, at the UFC 255 post-fight news conference, UFC president Dana White announced that Moreno and Figueiredo would fight each other three weeks later on Dec. 12 at UFC 256.

It was unexpected news for fans and media – and also Moreno.

“With this whole COVID thing, everything happens so fast,” Moreno said in Spanish on Hablemos MMA. “I get out of the octagon, I did a few interviews, literally the UFC staff picks up your stuff in the meantime and loads it onto a truck. Then, they take you out to the parking lot where a van is waiting for you to take you to the hotel.

“So we went to the hotel, we picked up our things. I live in Tijuana. For people that don’t know, Tijuana and Vegas are like 5 hours away by car, so it’s not really that much time. I like to drive whenever I fight in Vegas. I like taking my car.

“So we got to the hotel, we picked up our things, and we drove off. We went to my manager’s house before leaving, and they were having a small get-together, and I was eating very delicious food. The fight had just finished, and Jason (Moreno’s manager) had Mick Maynard on the phone, and they tell me the date for the fight.”

Moreno was taken aback by the offer. And even though he’s no stranger to fighting often and taking short-notice calls, the Mexican fighter had to think things through before accepting a title fight 21 days away and just hours after he’d competed.

“I always want to fight and get excited at any opportunity, but this time it did take me off guard,” Moreno explained. I did the calculation in my head, and I was like, ‘Hey, there’s only three weeks till that fight.’ So I told him to give me two minutes to think about it. My trainer Raul was next to me, and my trainer, who’s more patient and keeps me leveled, says, ‘Nothing happened to you. You’re healthy. It’s an opportunity to fight for the title. We need to go for it.’

“And nothing, we took the fight. We know that it’s very soon, but it’s the opportunity of our lives. We know a win can change a lot, so we decided not to wait more.”

It was an unprecedented situation considering no UFC title fight has ever been booked between a champion and challenger making 21-day turnarounds. Even though contracts are signed and the fight is happening, it till hasn’t fully sunk in for “The Assassin Baby,” who believed he should’ve received the shot already at UFC 255.

“It’s insane, and every day I’m processing it a little more, but when they first told me, I couldn’t believe it,” Moreno said. “In fact, when I was driving from Vegas to Tijuana, I couldn’t believe it.

“It was an eventful situation because Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling falling out left a very big hole and gave the UFC that necessity to fill the void. So we were in Vegas, we came out healthy, and we’re going for it. It benefits all. UFC gets a title fight in a pay-per-view that they needed, and I get the opportunity to fight for a UFC title. Right now I’m realizing it more, but last weekend I couldn’t believe it.”