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Deiveson Figueiredo, the current UFC flyweight champion, and Brandon Moreno, the current interim 125-pound titleholder, will square off for the fourth time during the upcoming UFC 283 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which was recently confirmed for Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Earlier this year, when the Brazilian was recovering from an injury, the Mexican prodigy defeated Kai Kara-France to win the interim belt. To finally settle who holds the title of flyweight king, they will meet in January.
In the octagon, Figueiredo and Moreno are currently 1-1-1. Figueiredo acknowledges that having to face Moreno for the fourth time in a row irritates both him and MMA fans. The No. 2 ranked flyweight contender Alexandre Pantoja will have an open path if Figueiredo manages to get a tremendous knockout, which may be the only option for him to eventually defeat "The Assassin Baby."
“[Alexandre] Pantoja didn’t deserve to be in stand-by [at UFC 283], Pantoja deserved to be fighting for the belt already,” Figueiredo said on this week’s podcast, Trocação Franca. “In my opinion, Pantoja was the guy to fight Brandon Moreno [for the interim] but they didn’t make it. It’s the UFC rules, let it happen.
“Even though I notice the UFC wants to make Brandon Moreno flyweight champion, I won’t give them that satisfaction. I’m here to defend what’s mine and show it to them in this fight.”
When asked why the UFC would prefer Moreno to be the champion, he responded:
“because he’s there all the time, in the media, and I come back to my [small town] and stay focused on my fights.”
The top-ranked flyweights will square off on a pay-per-view card for the fourth time, this time as the main event of a Brazilian event. Figueiredo makes sure that the brawl will perform well in ticket sales and draw strong pay-per-view numbers because there are many people interested in attending this fight.
Together with Charles Oliveira, Figueiredo had planned to conduct his subsequent camp at Chute Boxe Diego Lima in Sao Paulo, but after failing to acclimate to the chilly climate, he chose to return to Belem. Even though he cited training in Belem as one of the factors in his defeat by Moreno, the fact that he already has a gym means fewer distractions.
“We can’t underestimate the opponent,” Figueiredo said. “Every fight is different, we’re anxious to get to fight night and put everything we did in training in action. I want to fight him, I want to make weight — which is the first war every athlete has — and defend the belt here in Brazil with almost 100 percent of the fans cheering for me, and leave as champion. It’s going to be the biggest joy of my life.”