"Calling me a monkey" - When Brandon Moreno and his team were accused of racism by 'The Assassin Baby's' former opponent

Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo have quite a history. After their highly entertaining trilogy fight at UFC 270 in January 2022, they were expected to clash in a historic fourth flyweight title fight. However, fight talks were on unstable soil after the Brazilian accused Moreno's team of racism.

For context, Kai Kara-France defeated Askar Askarov at UFC Columbus in March 2022. Following his win, which was his third straight victory, the Kiwi called for a title shot. This caught Figueiredo's attention, and the Brazilian began turning his attention toward Kara-France instead of a quadrilogy fight against Moreno.

While many thought Figueiredo just wanted to defend the flyweight title against a new opponent, he later revealed that he was upset at some racist comments by Moreno's former teammate at Entram Gym.

In a now-deleted post on Instagram, Figueiredo requested UFC CEO Dana White not to book him against Moreno for a fourth time and wrote:

"Dear @danawhite, I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunities that you have given me, my family, and my country... I wanted to fight Brandon Moreno for the 4th time because I know this is what the fans want. Until his Team crossed the line with racist comments."

He continued:

"Calling me a monkey and even going to the extent of photoshopping a monkey’s face on top of mine... As the UFC Champion of the world, I ask you to consider my wish. I wish to fight the next contender in line, @kaikarafrance, who has earned his spot."

Figueiredo and Moreno ultimately clashed for the fourth time at UFC 283 in January 2023. 'The Assassin Baby' secured a third-round TKO via doctor's stoppage and won the UFC flyweight championship.

Moreno lost the title to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 290 last July. He's now set to face Brandon Royval in a rematch at UFC Mexico City this weekend.

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When Brandon Moreno addressed Deiveson Figueiredo's racism accusations

Not long after Deiveson Figueiredo's post went viral, Brandon Moreno addressed his rival's allegations and expressed his frustration at being labeled a racist.

During an interview with Ariel Helwani in August 2022, Moreno revealed that the incident took place after his second fight against Figueiredo. Still, the Brazilian began accusing him of racist behavior only after their third bout eight months later. The former UFC flyweight champion said:

"I mean the things started with my training partner, Marcelo. And it wasn't even in the last fight, it was in the second one, when I won the title."

After being asked to clarify what upset Figueiredo, Moreno explained that it involved an Instagram filter and said:

"My training partner Marcelo was using the Instagram filters, and one of the filters was a monkey. And he put the filter on his face, and somebody took a screenshot and made everything more dramatic."

Catch Brandon Moreno's comments below (18:10):