Brandon Moreno to Defend Flyweight Belt Against Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 290

A trilogy of sorts is on tap for UFC 290,
as Brandon
Moreno will defend his flyweight crown against Alexandre
Pantoja on July 8 in Las Vegas.

UFC chief business officer Hunter
Campbell confirmed the booking to promotion broadcast partner

ESPN on Wednesday.
Freak MMA first reported the title bout. UFC 290 takes place at
the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and also features a featherweight
championship clash pitting Alexander
Volkanovski against Yair
Rodriguez. According to ESPN, Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez is
expected to be the evening’s headliner, while Moreno vs. Pantoja
will serve as the co-main event. That likely means that the rumored
heavyweight championship showdown between Jon Jones and
Stipe
Miocic has now been targeted for another date.

Moreno and Pantoja have already squared off twice in MMA, though
only one of those was an official bout. Both men were on Season 24
of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and Pantoja submitted Moreno via
second-round submission in the reality show’s opening round. That
fight, of course, is documented as an exhibition. They crossed
paths again at UFC Fight Night 129 in May 2018, when Pantoja
emerged with a unanimous decision triumph that led to Moreno
briefly parting ways with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Moreno has emerged as star since then, becoming the UFC’s first
Mexican-born champion as part of a four-bout series with Deiveson
Figueiredo. “The Assassin Baby” concluded that rivalry with a
third-round TKO of the Brazilian in the UFC 283 co-main event on
Jan. 21. In addition to a pair of wins against Figueiredo, Moreno
owns notable victories over the likes of Kai Kara
France (twice), Brandon
Royval, Jussier
Formiga and Dustin
Ortiz.

Pantoja enters the matchup having been victorious in four of his
last five Octagon appearances. Most recently, the American Top Team
product submitted former title challenger Alex Perez
with a first-round neck crank in their bout at UFC 277 last July.
His ledger also features triumphs over Royval, Manel Kape,
Matt
Schnell and Wilson Reis,
among others.