Apr 12, 2023

Later this year, Brandon Moreno will look to avenge two previous losses.

The two-time, reigning UFC flyweight champion will defend his title against old rival Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 290 on July 8 in Las Vegas, UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell confirmed Wednesday to ESPN. It is expected to be the co-main event of the card.

Pantoja owns two victories over Moreno prior to Moreno becoming UFC champion. One was in an exhibition on The Ultimate Fighter reality show in 2016, a submission win. The other was a pro fight and unanimous decision triumph in 2018.

ESPN has Moreno ranked No. 8 in its pound-for-pound MMA rankings. At flyweight, Moreno is No. 1 and Pantoja is No. 6.

Freak MMA first reported the news of the Moreno vs. Pantoja booking.

Moreno (21-6-2) regained the UFC flyweight title by beating Deiveson Figueiredo via third-round TKO at UFC 283 back in January. The first Mexican-born UFC champion has won two straight and has just one loss in his past 10 fights, to Figueiredo. Moreno, 29, fought Figueiredo four times (going 2-1-1) and will now be entering into this pseudo-trilogy fight with Pantoja.

Pantoja (25-5) has won three in a row, most recently a first-round submission win over Alex Perez at UFC 270 last July. The Brazilian-born fighter has won seven of his last nine fights overall. Pantoja, 32, is tied with Joseph Benavidez for the second most finishes in UFC flyweight history (6).

A featherweight title unification bout between champion Alexander Volkanovski and interim champ Yair Rodriguez is expected to be the UFC 290 main event.