Deiveson Figueiredo suffered a nasty eye injury that saw him lose his UFC flyweight title to Brandon Moreno for the second time.
The rivals, who were fighting for a fourth time, first met in 2020 when Figueiredo retained his title by fighting to a draw with Moreno in a fight that he would have likely won had he not been deducted a point for to an illegal groin strike. Figueiredo lost his belt in their rematch when he was choked out by Moreno, but won it back in their trilogy fight last January.
As the fourth meeting got underway, Moreno shot for a takedown and managed to put Figueiredo on his back but the Brazilian defended well and quickly got back to his feet. The rest of the opening round was largely uneventful as both men didn't throw many strikes whilst trying to figure the other out. Moreno complained about an illegal kick from Figueiredo when he attempted a leg lock after being taken down again.
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Moreno had a good second round as he took Figueiredo down again and came close to securing a guillotine choke, but Figueiredo did a good job to defend himself. Figueiredo was being outgrappled by Moreno and did land some good elbows off of his back, but was likely down two rounds and needed to change his gameplan.
The eye of Figueiredo swelled up when Moreno landed a left hook and the Brazilian complained about his rival landing an illegal eye poke, which was disproved on the instant replay. Before the fourth round got underway, the cageside doctor deemed Figueiredo was not fit to continue as his eye was swollen shut and Moreno was crowned the new champion.
The Brazilian crowd unsurprisingly booed Moreno as he gave his post-fight interview, with the new champion stating : "I understand the people [booing] but the people need to understand that I am just trying to put food on the table for my family. I was trying to use a good gameplan for this fight because I was very emotional for the last one."
Figueiredo announced he will move up to bantamweight for his next fight and congratulated Moreno on his title win despite the pair's bitter rivalry. Moreno had to be escorted out of the octagon by security as the raucous fans in attendance chucked things in his direction as he walked backstage.
