SPORTS

Mexico Has Their First UFC Champion

Shashank Iyer
14 June,2021
2 minutes

Brandon Moreno became the first-ever Mexican to get his hands on a UFC Championship

Highlight

After defeating Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 263, Brandon Moreno became the first-ever Mexican to get his hands on a UFC Championship.

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Brandon Moreno felt that he belonged in the list of top flyweight fighters in the world when these two went head to head the first time inside the Octagon. In the rematch at UFC 263, the Mexican had the opportunity to display what he has been working on over the past seven months, and dismantled Figueiredo in the co-main event to become the first-ever Mexican-born Champion in UFC history.

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The first round got off to a frantic start with Figueiredo landing a couple of punches and taking his opponent onto the canvas, but Moreno did well to fight back and ended the first round in top position on the ground. The second round started just the way first ended, with Figueiredo taking down Moreno but this time, Moreno was quick to get up and started to throw some punches at the Brazillian. In the third round, Figueiredo got caught by Moreno’s short right and was taken down the next instant. The Arizona crowd went wild as Moreno attempted a rear-naked choke after taking Figueiredo’s back and it prompted referee Mike Beltran to stop the fight at 2:26 of Round 3 to crown Brandon Moreno as the new UFC Flyweight Champion.

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In the post-match octagon interview with Joe Rogan, the Assassin Baby said, “It’s amazing bro, watching me with the shiny belt. I feel amazing brother. It’s so crazy. To all the people in my country, all my Mexican people, just know you can do it if you want to. Thanks to everyone, this shows that if you want to do it, you can do it. I spent a long time at this training camp for long. I put my all into this. I started the year working on the camp, making drills to prepare, to be better today, and look at me now, I’m so happy. Viva Mexico”.

As for UFC, it was a huge step forward as they were focusing on developing talents in Latin America and Moreno’s win could give Dana White & UFC the perfect boost it needed in the region.