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Brandon Moreno has spoken about being labeled a racist by Deiveson Figueiredo. It has been the source of quite some frustration for Moreno, as he feels the claims are entirely unwarranted.
Moreno was asked about the origins of the dispute on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. Moreno noted that the incident in question took place after the second fight between the pair, but Figueiredo only began to accuse Moreno of being racist after their third bout eight months later.
"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."
Helwani asked Moreno to clarify the incident, as the reporter seemed confused at what had been said or done that could be perceived as racist.
"My training partner Marcelo was using the Instagram filters, and one of the filters was a monkey. And he put the filter on his [Figueiredo's] face, and somebody took a screenshot and made everything more dramatic.
Catch the interview below:
Brandon Moreno defended his teammate and training partner, clarifying that there was no malicious intent.
"He was just playing, he was putting filters on everybody. He put filters on me, he put filters on Dana White. But man, to be honest with you, it was very funny in that moment."
Brandon Moreno feels confident that he can achieve great things with James Krause
One of the biggest changes for Brandon Moreno heading into his latest title fight was the appearance of James Krause, his new head coach.
Moreno moved to Glory MMA, the gym Krause coaches at, earlier this year. 'The Assassin Baby' said that he and Krause made a connection two or three months ago, and that he hopes he can continue finding success alongside his new coach.
He told Laura Sanko post-fight at UFC 277:
"We made the connection like two or three months ago, we need to keep working together. But I feel like we can achieve bigger things in the future."
Watch the interview below:
Brandon Moreno is the first UFC world champion to be coached by Krause, and the former fighter will be hoping that he and Moreno can maintain a long and prosperous relationship.
With Moreno already having a superb skillset, it will be fascinating to see what improvements Krause and the rest of his team can make to the Mexican's game.
