Deiveson Figueiredo still wants Brandon Moreno next, tells Alexandre Pantoja to wait for his rematch

Former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo still wants Brandon Moreno next, telling Alexandre Pantoja to wait for his rematch.

Pantoja submitted Brandon Royval at UFC Vegas 34 in a fight that UFC president Dana White himself called a title eliminator. Because Pantoja already has two previous wins over Moreno, on TUF and in the Octagon, he appears to be next in line for the champ Moreno, and the two flyweights actually verbally agreed to the fight following Pantoja’s win over Royval. However, Figueiredo is still hot on the trail and wants the Moreno fight first.

Taking to his social media following Pantoja’s big win over Royval, Figueiredo called for the trilogy fight against Moreno once again, while telling Pantoja to wait for his own rematch.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CS3Ex4gNfbd/

I was happy for your victory @pantoja_oficial . After I defeat @theassassinbaby it will be your turn . I will give you the rematch , like any honored fighter @danawhite @mickmaynard2 @wallidjfc

It will be interesting to see what the UFC does at flyweight, but it does appear as though Pantoja is going to be next in line since Moreno has already agreed to the fight. Not only that, but Pantoja is coming off of two straight wins, while Figueiredo was dominated and submitted by Moreno at UFC 263 in June. While it’s true that Figueiredo did give Moreno a rematch following their draw last year at UFC 256, the fact that Moreno won the rematch so convincingly means that the UFC likely will go with a fresh contender at 125lbs instead.

Some believe that Askar Askarov, who defeated Pantoja last year on Fight Island, deserves to fight Moreno for the belt next, but the problem with giving Askarov the title shot is that he missed weight in his last outing against Joseph Benavidez. Even though he looked amazing in that fight, the UFC likely doesn’t want to risk him missing weight in a title bout, which is why Pantoja appears to be ahead of Askarov in the title queue at the moment. As for Figueiredo, he defeated Pantoja via decision at UFC 240 two years ago in a FOTN.

Do you think Deiveson Figueiredo should fight Brandon Moreno next or Alexandre Pantoja?