This weekend in Edmonton, top five flyweights meet in the main event as Amir Albazi looks for his biggest win to date when facing the former champion, Brandon Moreno. We already know who Alexander Pantoja’s next title challenger is but either man can put themselves in the mix with a win here.
For Moreno, it’s going to be hard for him to earn a shot at Pantoja after losing to the Brazilian champion three times in his career. It’s still important for the Mexican star to bounce back here following his loss to Brandon Royval in February.
Albazi is one of the few new contenders at the top of the rankings who would provide a new challenge for Pantoja, assuming that the champion is able to retain the title in his fight with Kai Asakura at UFC 310 in December. He’s riding a five-fight winning streak since signing with the UFC and adding Moreno to that list will put him within reach.
In a recent interview with Sherdog, Pantoja gave his thoughts on how he sees this weekend’s main event playing out. He also spoke about how he sees a fight against the winner playing out if it does happen down the line.
“I think Albazi has more chance to get the victory. He’s very close to fight for the belt, I think he not gonna miss the opportunity, you know. Moreno is an incredible fighter, former champ, but maybe Albazi want more in that moment. Albazi maybe want more and his grappling is very good. I don’t know if Moreno can defend the takedown shots. I don’t know if Moreno, his boxing, can work against Albazi because Albazi moves a lot, he has very good wrestling.
“I think that fight is going to be a decision for Albazi and I don’t want to say like if you have an easy fight or something like that but I like to grapple. I think in that moment right now, a grappler for me, it’s a perfect fight. It’s a good challenge of course, all is different but I have very good jiu-jitsu and I’m very comfortable in the ground game.”
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