Saturday’s UFC 263 is headlined by a title fight rematch between two of the best fighters in the world at their weight class. And no, I’m not talking about Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori, the nominal main event.
To the real heads, the true main event is what’s going on right before Izzy and Vettori battle over the UFC middleweight title. It’s the the rematch between flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo and No. 1 contender Brandon Moreno, who are finally running it back after an unforgettable five-round battle that ranked among 2020’s best fights.
I looked back at the first go-around between Adesanya and Vettori earlier this week, but it can’t be emphasized enough how different these rematches are. Adesanya-Vettori I was a competitive and interesting fight, but rather unremarkable. Both fighters had their moments, but there was little that was particularly explosive. If it wasn’t for where the two fighters would eventually end up, the bout would likely go largely unremembered.
Figueiredo-Moreno I is a battle that will be remembered, no matter where these two men go from here. It was a fight that looked fun on paper, and delivered beyond all possible expectation. It was an epic that might have permanently saved the UFC flyweight division, and one that deserved a roaring crowd. The rematch on Saturday night will be fun, but it’s just another excuse to watch the first fight again.
No one’s star shined brighter throughout last year than Figueiredo, my 2020 Fighter of the Year, who transformed a 125-pound division hanging on by a thread and remade it in his own image. Figueiredo won the title by twice massacring longtime bridesmaid Joseph Benavidez, and then choked out Alex Perez in less than two minutes in November.
It should be remembered that the Moreno matchup came just three weeks after his defeat of Perez, and in extraordinary circumstances. The UFC 256 pay-per-view had seemed cursed, with three separate title bouts targeted to main event and then falling apart. It was only moments after Figueiredo beat Perez that he signed to rescue the show by fighting Moreno, the division’s top-ranked contender. In doing so, he would be making the quickest turnaround between title defenses of any fighter in UFC history, and becoming the first fighter in the era of monthly pay-per-views to headline two consecutive UFC PPVs.
And over the preceding months, Figueiredo’s legend had grown. This wasn’t an ordinary flyweight, all speed and zip. This was Deus da Guerra, the God of War, pound-for-pound the strongest and most violent man in the sport, a fighter who was just built different. Step in the ring with Deiveson Figueiredo, and one of two things would happen: either Figgy would knock you out, or choke you unconscious.
But in Brandon Moreno, Figueiredo finally found a man who could take his punch. Figueiredo made his intentions known from the outset: he planned to walk Moreno down, never mind the offense coming the other way, and seek the killshot. Moreno has an iron chin, the heart of a lion, and is active and skilled off the counter. It was the perfect combination of factors to produce a classic.
As Figueiredo stalks forward, throwing one concussive blow at a time, you realize something: Brandon Moreno is here to fight. Towards the end of the first, Figueiredo starts to really open up, and lands some absolute nukes. Moreno doesn’t falter even a little. Replays show the viewer in slow motion just how devastating some of Figueiredo’s blows were. Moreno chugs out for the second round, seemingly unaffected.
Even so, the damage starts to add up on Moreno. Figueiredo’s jabs are carrying uncommon malice, and when he lets go with combinations, he’s consistently connecting with incredibly stiff hooks on the inside. But Moreno never falters, even for a moment. He keeps his hands busy, and trades back with the champ blow for blow. He takes Figueiredo down multiple times with the same inside trip. Figueiredo may have been sent from Hell to commit unspeakable acts of violence upon mankind, but Brandon Moreno is a goddamn Mexican. He’s not backing down from anyone.
A Figueiredo punch late in the second round swells up Moreno’s right eye, and he enters the third even more aggressive. A overhand right sends Moreno stumbling, and a right to the body lands with a sick thud. He goes to the body again and throws a heat-seeker of a standing elbow, but Moreno is still countering. And midway through Figueiredo’s best round of the night, he hands Moreno a break, of sorts: a bad kick to the nuts that doubles Moreno over in pain, but leads to a point deduction that gives the challenger a chance.
Moreno comes back to land one of his best punches of the fight, a stinging overhand right, in the waning moments of the third. That just presages what was to come in the fourth, one of the single greatest rounds of MMA I’ve ever seen. Moreno – who has been doing excellent work off the counter all night long – turns it around and goes on the attack. He wobbles the champion with a head kick, takes him down, but later eats a crunching uppercut for his troubles. The momentum swings back to the champion, emboldened again.
Then Moreno turns him around and lands a devastating combination against the cage, again putting Figueiredo back on uncertain footing. Commentators Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier are screaming incoherently with every blow. For the first time, Moreno seems a step ahead in the striking battle, landing jabs and getting out of the way, and generally looking fresher. He lands another trip, smashes Figueiredo with another big combination at the end of the round, and all of a sudden the “Assassin Baby” is feeling himself.
This is a fight Brandon Moreno can win. But, of course, he’s had one of the most powerful fighters in the world smashing him with cinderblocks for 20 minutes. His eye is swollen, his face is bloodied. In the fifth round, a huge lump appears on Moreno’s left arm, and he stops using it almost entirely – he later attributed that to a shoulder injury, but there’s certainly something up with his arm as well. Although he still appears energetic, his body is starting to let him down. His output slows dramatically, and Figueiredo is the one who takes it home.
Without the point deduction, Figueiredo wins all three scorecards, 49-46, 48-47, 48-47 – all three judges giving the fourth to Moreno, Sal D’Amato giving him the second, and Junichiro Kamijo puzzlingly giving him the fifth. However, the low blow turns it into a draw, which at the time felt like a proper ending for such a fantastic war. Brandon Moreno had just given one of the most badass performances in an (apparently) losing effort ever, Figueiredo looked devastating, and neither man deserved an L on their record.
It was the kind of fight that affects chins and changes careers. Seven months later, the affect the beating both men dished out has yet to be determined. But you see what makes both men special: Figueiredo’s incredible power and murderous mindset moving forward, Moreno’s unbelievable toughness, heart and skill off the counter. Moreno was injured in several places, had a bona fide murder machine hitting him with ICBMs for 25 minutes, and never gave the champion an inch. And who wound up the most visibly hurt during the fight? It wasn’t Moreno – it was Figueiredo, in that fourth round.
Lightning doesn’t often strike twice, especially in a year where the first lightning-strike death only just occurred. But if Figueiredo and Moreno give us something even half as gripping as their first go-around, it’ll be enough. This time around, they’ll have a roaring crowd to ignite.
The Big Fight 