New UFC flyweight champ Brandon Moreno not sure who his first challenger will be

HOUSTON – New UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno is anxious to get back to work and have his first title defense lined up – but his timeline might not mesh with reality.

Moreno (19-5-2 MMA, 7-2-2 UFC) won the 125-pound belt with a submission of Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 263 in June. In an ideal world, the things that go along with being a UFC champ will calm down soon so he can get back to training for a fight – but against whom, is the big question.

“I want to fight in November,” Moreno told MMA Junkie on Friday. “I’ve had just one fight this year. Before all this, I fought four times in one year or something like that.

“Right now, the division is very weird. Askar Askarov had an injury – I think he’s the No. 1 contender. He has an injury. He’s out for a few months. Cody Garbrandt’s not fighting till December, right? So maybe I need to wait a little bit to watch how the division moves – wait a little bit for (Alexandre) Pantoja-(Brandon) Royval, maybe Alex Perez-(Matt) Schnell. I don’t want to talk about Schnell because I love him, but he could be a possibility if he beats Alex Perez.”

If Moreno can’t fight any of the names he listed in a reasonable time frame, then perhaps he’d consider fighting Figueiredo a third time.

His title win over him in June came on the heels of their majority draw in December 2020 at UFC 256. But at the same time, Moreno wouldn’t put a third straight fight against Figueiredo high on his list.

“(A trilogy with Figueiredo doesn’t make sense), but right now the division is so weird – maybe,” Moreno said. “Maybe the trilogy. To be real, real honest with you, to think about the trilogy is boring for me because we fought twice in the past. But at the end of the day, I’m a fighter – we can do that. Or we can wait and see what happens in the other fights.”

The spotlight on Moreno has gotten a lot brighter with a UFC title on his mantle. So until he has a name on a contract, he has other things to get used to and worry about.

“My challenge right now is to keep in shape and keep doing my job,” he said. “… I’m trying to do everything right now, and in August or September I’ll start to get ready again. Everywhere I go, there’s a lot of spotlights, a lot of interviews, a lot of famous people. I know the responsibility, but I know I’m ready. I know I can build a legacy in my life.”

Check out the full interview with Moreno in the video above.