Two belts enter, one belt leaves.
Reigning UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo and current interim 125-pound titleholder Brandon Moreno will collide for a fourth (and hopefully final) time as part of the upcoming UFC 283 pay-per-view (PPV) event, recently made official for Sat., Jan. 21, 2023 inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Both champs came face-to-face at the UFC 283 presser on Weds. in Brazil.
Figueiredo (21-2-1) and Moreno (20-6-2) battled to a draw on the UFC 256 card in late 2020, then ran it back at UFC 263 the following June. That’s where Moreno captured a submission win over “Daico” — only to come up on the losing end of a unanimous decision in their UFC 270 trilogy earlier this year.
“The Assassin Baby” was later awarded the interim title by stopping Kai Kara France at UFC 277, a bout that was hastily assembled when Figueiredo took leave due to injury. Despite rumors of a trip to bantamweight, it sounds like the Brazilian is ready to close the book on his Moreno rivalry once and for all.
Whether or not it cost the promotion $1 million remains to be seen.
UFC 283 will also feature the women’s flyweight showdown between former title challengers Jessica Andrade and Lauren Murphy. Elsewhere on the card, Paul Craig and Johnny Walker collide at light heavyweight, not long after Ihor Potieria and Shogun Rua hook ‘em up at 205 pounds.