Brandon Moreno on Brazilian fans pelting him with beer and trash at UFC 283: ‘For me, it was funny’
Brandon Moreno was not bothered by the Brazilian fans reaction after he beat Deiveson Figueiredo.
At UFC 283, Moreno scored a doctor stoppage victory over Figueiredo due to an eye injury between the third and fourth rounds of their tetralogy bout. The Brazilian fans did not take kindly to this outcome though, and threw beer and other refuse at Moreno as he exited the arena. The scene was so bad that after the main event, Glover Teixeira beseeched the crowd not to do the same to Jamahal Hill, but Moreno wasn’t all that upset by what happened.
“For me, as a Mexican, it’s kind of normal,” Moreno told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “I’m not saying it’s correct. I think it’s a horrible thing, but I can see it in soccer, I can see it in lucha libre. I’m not saying it’s correct, but I live a little bit more with it like that. That’s why for me it was funny. I know that can be dangerous, but I love all the staff of the UFC, because they took care of me every single moment. All the bodyguards were there taking care of me, so I love those guys.”
As for why he got such a negative reception, Moreno isn’t 100 percent sure, but he suspects the way the fight ended was a big part of it. In the third round of the bout, Moreno landed a left hook to Figueiredo’s eye that immediately caused the then-champion to wince in pain and call for a break for an eye poke; however, because the strike was legal, referee Herb Dean allowed the action to continue. That strike left Figueiredo’s eye in shambles and the ringside physician stopped the bout between rounds when he determined Figueiredo could not see out of the eye. But even though the strike was legal, it was a situation that would be easy for fans in attendance to be confused about, and Moreno guesses that was why they were so upset.
“Maybe because they thought I poked Figueiredo’s eye,” Moreno said. “Starting from that, I don’t know. I was just happy, laughing, I danced a little bit after the fight, maybe that’s why they started to get mad. I don’t know. I don’t care. I just won. I did everything right. I was very respectful every moment, I tried to do my best to make all the Brazilian fans comfortable with me, so I’m perfect right now. I’m comfortable with that.”
Moreno can also be comfortable with once again being the undisputed UFC flyweight champion, and with finally being finished with his rivalry with Figueiredo, who announced he will be moving up to bantamweight after the bout. That means that for Moreno, it’s on to new business, likely against top contender Alexandre Pantoja, who already has a pair of wins over Moreno, once in the UFC and once on The Ultimate Fighter. The two have already butted heads about when that will happen, but if he has his druthers, it might be Pantoja who has to come to hostile territory this time.
“I need to rest my mind, I need to rest my body a little bit, but at the same time, I want to be active,” Moreno said. “I want to fight maybe in June, or — everything is a rumor right now — got to Mexico City in September for [Independence Day], that sounds cool to me. I prefer to fight in June, to be honest, but let’s see what happens. If it’s for Mexico, to take a pay-per-view event in Mexico City, for sure it would be very cool.”