MANILA, Philippines – A few months ago, Mexican fighter Brandon Moreno came off a scintillating tetralogy with Deiveson Figueiredo where he came away as the undisputed winner and the UFC flyweight champion.
After Sunday, July 9, Moreno surrendered the belt in his second title defense and lost a trilogy to Brazilian Alexandre Pantoja in UFC 290 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Pantoja, who had defeated Moreno in The Ultimate Fighter in 2016 and in UFC Fight Night in 2018, took a split decision, with two judges giving a 48-47 for Pantoja and one surprisingly awarding a 49-46 score in favor of Moreno.
While the Mexican had a 147-129 advantage in significant strikes, the Brazilian controlled the match when it went to the canvas. A left hook put Moreno on the mat in the first round, and it looked to be all over. But in a five-round battle that went back and forth and despite Moreno’s jab bloodying his face, Pantoja kept coming and dealt some major damage to Moreno on the ground.
Pantoja was 6-11 in takedowns.
The fight was judged Fight of the Night and is undoubtedly a candidate for Fight of the Year. Both fighters had to be brought to the hospital after the fight, with Moreno dealing with a broken hand.
In the main event of UFC 290, Australian Alexander Volkanovski broke Mexican hearts once more when he thoroughly outclassed interim UFC featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez.
Volkanovski constantly changed stances, kept moving forward to take away Rodriguez’ advantage in reach. The latter’s unpredictability was also taken out of play as the Australian out-hit, out-grappled, and totally out-performed the Mexican with an excellent game plan.
The end came for Rodriguez when a punch straight to Rodriguez’ face clearly hurt him. Volkanovski rushed in and landed a few more blows then slammed him onto the canvas where he rained a few more fists before referee Herb Dean put an end to the fight at the 4:19 mark.
With the win, Volkanovski unified the featherweight title and reminded everyone why he was the UFC’s pound-for-pound king.
"Everyone knows you've got to expect the unexpected in the sport. To be honest, in camp, there was fear of his striking. I prepared because I respect him. But this week I flipped the switch in my mind. I'm the champ, and no one's ever stopping me,” said the Australian after the fight.
Volkanovski’s win softened the blow of his compatriot Robert Whittaker losing to South African Dricus Du Plessis via knockout. Du Plessis was awarded Performance of the Night along with Denise Gomez who defeated Yazmin Jauregui 20 seconds into the first round of their preliminary card bout.
The UFC is shown live every week in the Philippines on the Premier Sports Channel and the TapGo TV streaming application.