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Brandon Moreno is currently riding high in the UFC while holding the flyweight championship. The 27-year-old will face Deiveson Figueiredo for the third time early next year at UFC 270 from Anaheim, California.
The first Mexican-born UFC champion might find his latest challenge against Figueiredo his toughest, however. 'The Assassin Baby' has cause for greater concern after learning Figueiredo just welcomed Henry Cejudo into his training fold.
'Triple C' helped 'shape Moreno's early MMA career. Speaking on The MMA Hour YouTube show, Moreno opened up about his time with Cejudo and how the former two-division UFC champ picked Alexandre Pantoja ahead of him during a past edition of The Ultimate Fighter.
"To be honest with you, when I hear about that [Figueiredo training with Cejudo] for the first time, I was a little bit sad. But now you know fake people do fake things. Definitely, he has his own version of history. I have my own version. If Henry Cejudo want to help Figueiredo to this trilogy, I think he need it... I was in Henry's house. He helped me in the past a lot. He was paying the food. He gave the training. I'm very grateful with Henry for that. I went to The Ultimate Fighter. He take Pantoja and say f**k Brandon. I went to [Joseph] Benavidez's team and I need to be very clear at that point. The training with Benavidez was good. He was very respectful with me and helped me a lot too. It was a sad part of my life," said Moreno.
Watch Brandon Moreno in conversation with Ariel Helwani below:
Brandon Moreno will complete his trilogy with Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 270 in January 2022
While Deiveson Figueiredo held the flyweight title at UFC 256, he fought to a majority draw with Brandon Moreno.
'Daico' dropped the belt to Moreno at UFC 263 via third-round submission a few months later.
The duo will now have a third go at each other at UFC 270 inside the Honda Center on January 22, 2022. Moreno holds a 19-5-2 MMA record, while Figueiredo is 20-2-1.
