UFC 270: Deiveson Figueiredo Looks to Reclaim Flyweight Title in Trilogy Bout vs. Brandon Moreno

Brandon Moreno defeated Deiveson Figueiredo by submission in the third round of their June 2021 fight at UFC 263 to claim the UFC’s flyweight championship. Now he’ll have to back up that win with another victory if he wants to hold on to his crown at UFC 270 on Saturday night.

Figueiredo (20-2-1) and Moreno (19-5-2) will battle in the co-main event of the UFC 270 card, the third time the two have clashed in the Octagon.

Figueiredo vows changes for trilogy bout

Moreno first challenged Figueiredo for the flyweight title at UFC 256 in December 2020. In that bout, Figueiredo held on to his crown via a majority draw despite losing a point in the third round for a groin strike.

That result demanded a rematch, which came last June. While Figueiredo controlled most of the first fight, Moreno dominated the rematch on his way to the third-round submission.

Figueiredo, the 2020 Fighter of the Year, says that he has made changes to prepare for his third battle with Moreno.

“I’m going to be completely different,” Figueiredo said, via Yahoo Sports. “It will be like there is a different guy in this body. We worked a lot of wrestling and you’ll see that. I’m stronger, more explosive. I’m just different.”

Meanwhile, Moreno doesn’t feel like he has to change much of anything to get another win over Figueiredo.

“With those kinds of fights, it’s hard to try to find something new to fix,” Moreno told Yahoo’s Kevin Iole. “So my focus on my mindset for this training camp was like hey, man, so you need to be ready again. So I put that double effort in my strength and conditioning.”

Second fight sets the tone for UFC 270

Oddsmakers see Moreno as a clear favorite after his strong performance in the last fight. DraftKings Sportsbook lists the champion as the -180 pick to win on Saturday night, with Figueiredo pulling +155 as the underdog.

Figueiredo comes into the fight as a live underdog, however. At his best, the former champion has outclassed most opponents in both striking and grappling. Still, Moreno had little trouble running over him in their last fight, and unless something changes, that seems to be the most likely scenario for the trilogy bout as well.

Moreno clearly wants to win decisively yet again. If he does so, he’ll be able to move on to other opponents in his title defenses, something he says he’s looking forward to.

“I’m really prepared for another war if it’s necessary. But the goal is to finish this guy and don’t see his face against because I’m sick of this guy,” Moreno said. “I’m sick of his fake world. So I just want to finish this guy again and move the page to the other contender.”