ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto sits down with Brandon Moreno about his history with Deiveson Figueiredo ahead of their fourth …
I’m excited because it’s the first time I’m like touching like the another territory you know he was Davis was saying like uh we’re falling for example sauna here in Vegas like a Mexican places I understand the point but I mean I’m not scared at all to go to Brazil and get the hearts of the Brazilian people and ride my my hand there is there anything uh more challenging about having the fight in Brazil though yeah but that that is exciting to be honest you know and he need to understand the pressure he never underst understood that because I’m I’m going to uh to front of all my people I mean man Anaheim is Mexico yeah now Anaheim is another part of Tijuana and I remember that night like a lot of Mexican flags a lot of Mexican screaming my name that night man that is a lot and a huge pressure for me so he needed to understand the fight in front of your people it’s hard so I I want to see if he’s prepared for that and uh you said you’re excited to get that feeling of going into like you technically you did that you did fight in Brazil against a Brazilian but did it not count because it was that it was that yeah crazy yeah I mean I was I was ready I promise because before the the all of this thing with the covet uh all the the tickets were selling in that in that event I think I don’t remember well but I I was ready for today and all this all this stuff and but yeah uh Friday after after the weigh-ins UFC come with a came with us and he started to say like hey for uh for Kobe’s reasons we need to like put all the people out of the of the Arena so the the place will be will be empty so I go okay so yeah I mean I went there I some Brazilian in uh in uh in his uh his home but let’s go yeah what is the relationship between you and Davidson at this point I mean I love ladies you don’t understand I love that guy man he needs to understand that I mean he said he hated me and he said a lot of crazy things and a lot of crazy but man we are building something huge man we are building something huge together and after this fight whatever that happens like if he win or if I win I mean we are building a huge Legacy between us and so so nothing man uh he can say whatever he can act like the bad guy but at the end of the day uh we are building something nice how do you think he really thinks about you because he kind of does both he says he hates you but then like he hugs you he lifts you up and you when you beat him that one time I don’t understand what he really feels about me because man when he’s not in front of the camera when when anybody is around us he’s very nice man or he’s not doing nothing bad against me uh uh yeah when I fought against him in Arizona and I believe he came with me hug me I lit me up and whatever that was nice I was like okay I mean this reality uh this bad blood finish there but then next week I start to go to the to the to the interviews and start to talk about me again like oh okay then I beat a kaikara France the guy come they came to the octagon and looks like they’re trying to find some some problems there but I put my stuff there and like hey man I’m I’m done with the bad blood I’m done with the bad feelings because I think that affect me a little bit in the last fight against him so maybe you know I want to finish with I want to finish with that and the guy the guy again like okay I respect you let’s find the Brazil like okay I don’t care then he he hugged me again whatever and then again with the trash truck so I don’t know what is the real feeling would he with him about me but doesn’t matter at the end we are in a really easy business you hate me we have the opportunity to fight and solve that that’s interesting to me that you told that you said that you think it affected you in the third fight because I I mean just from watching from the outside it just feels like you really haven’t cared the whole time you did care on going in the third one I mean I’m if you if you watch the fight again I mean I put all my hair there man and the fight was very close and was a really really good match um but I don’t know I mean what’s you know what’s my first defense uh again all the pressure uh fighting with a lot of Mexican crew a lot of media New Media and it’s it’s crazy how always after a huge fight everything grow you know I remember my first fight in Mexico City in 2017 when I first made event against Sergio Paris man that fight was crazy for me because all the attention all I remember every single week every every Wednesday all the media came to the gym and I and after practice I I had like one hour interviews with a lot of media like oh man that woman was so tired but I understood like man it’s part of this right it’s part of the success and it’s part of what I’m building right now it’s part of my legacy and but then I got I got the title and everything grow again man what’s what’s hard at the moment but I don’t know I showed to the people like in my last fight against skyker and France I can manage these just I need experience I just need the time I just need the the the right people around me to support me and that’s it I I can do it just and I have a lot of pressure in the last one for for this one again at least right now I feel so happy again do you feel like like with Davidson in particular as a person like I’m sure that everyone’s going to be using the phrase unfinished business you know do you feel like you have unfinished business with Davis and figuredo I think it’s it’s simple simple math you know there’s one one-on-one it’s it’s a very it’s a very simple uh question to answer like of course we need to fight one more time and hopefully like I don’t want to see like any draw or whatever but I mean I have a uh the feeling that this this one is the last one so I’m putting all my effort I’m putting all my brain and my hair to get this Victory and finish this and again like build this amazing Legacy together so after 70 minutes with him in the cage spanning two years you know four training camps it’s gonna come down to five rounds and then you’re gonna be done with this guy how does it feel to know that it’s like all right all of that has led up to 25 minutes in Brazil it’s almost poetic man for me how the history is is stalking for us right now it’s a it’s a nice movie it’s a nice movie I I can see it like uh these amazing history where every single piece of the movie is like connecting each other into the last part you know the last chapter of this movie amazing movie and that’s that’s why I’m using this this phrase in my social media I mean for me it’s the last dance against this guy is Ultima dancer so the last dance together so I’m excited I don’t get surprised anymore when you guys say that like oh I’m not feeling pressure for this fight or this this one doesn’t feel any different because you say that all the time but like for me looking on the outside in you said you felt a lot of pressure before the last one this one to me would feel like the one like this is the pressure one because because it’s because it’s the last one it’s like it’s like the winner goes on to this like he’s the winner of the whole thing it’s just like what I just said like two years a rivalry one of you guys is going to leave a winner because I’m with you I don’t think there’s going to be a fifth fight so how why don’t you think that that adds pressure in your mind maybe I mean maybe maybe you are right on maybe right now I need to feel like right now right you never know but at least in my mind I’m just trying to be happy man yeah I for I and that’s the thing I’ve uh I felt like the in the last fight I forget to be happy in the fight you know I was like I was being like very responsible with the media with the interviews with the cameras and with the pressure with my responsibilities but and I forget a little bit to stay happy and just enjoy my job and and try to remember every day why I’m starting this and why I’m doing this okay we didn’t or losing I before I was like I don’t care it was justified actually I have a a an interview like a few days ago and he asked me hey what happened in that moment when you started your professional career and you was three and three what was your motivation to keep going because I mean a lot of fun like after three and three he’s like yeah it’s not a good record I mean I was I wasn’t thinking in the Universal fight I was just getting fun man I was just getting fun trying to punches with somebody right yeah and that’s it right now I’m trying to be very focused on that and just be happy and and obviously uh follow the follow the game plan and be a smart and whatever but man I just want to enjoy the moment yeah how much of that um I guess pressure that you felt in the in the third fight that was your first title defense and everything how much of that do you think came from you’re the first Mexican born one like I think every Champion probably feels like oh I’m under pressure it’s my I’m A Champion now and there’s a lot comes with it but even more came with it with you because you were the first one from Mexico how much do you think that that added yeah I mean I think it’s nonetheless a a huge part because it’s a it’s a crazy responsibility and maybe foreign a champion from the United States for him for example is like kind of like I mean of course it’s something huge is something important because you are the champion of the world but man be the champion of the world uh from a country where like mixed martial artists is not the the main sport you know we have a lot of like a Mexican champions in boxing we we have the the soccer what is the is the the main sport in in the country and that’s important for a lot of Mexicans but man big spirituality is is keeping working to build something in in you know in okay in in Mexico so yeah maybe yes maybe if you have started to think about it that was a huge part too and but man again I can do it yeah I just I just needed experience I just needed the time and right now I’m doing everything very well so I’m very confident about it do you have any examples and it’s okay if you don’t but do you have any examples of that show how much it meant to some people in Mexico that you want a championship like is there any like cool stories or little things that you got or like fan interaction that that really told you that oh this means a lot to people not just me man I mean I I don’t have like any specific history but but man I have people doing crazy huge and long lines in meet and greets crying to to take a picture with me that is insane that I mean I I feel like I ca I kind of um weird because uh I don’t have that experience before but at the same time I feel so special like man I think I’m doing something good and I I’m intelligent that I’m touching the hurts of the people um maybe other uh Champions or other Fighters has more followers or more like whatever but man the connection I have with my people with my fans is is huge and it’s different and that’s crazy so history is like that touch my hair every single time um when you when you lost the third one it was very close and then that’s when you decided to come train in the United States right um no so you had you had you had left and you would you would come so and actually it’s funny because after the first fight against figuerel I got the enough money to buy a house here in Las Vegas yeah so I did it uh in that in that moment I was like living here in Vegas but it’s still doing my training camp in Tijuana so that was all the process in the in the first three fights after the tier one I decided to to left my my team in Tijuana and move full time into the United States and that’s it that’s why I it was a time when I moved to uh to Glory MMA in Kansas City yeah how soon after the fight did you know that that you needed a change that you needed to change hang on man it’s crazy about what’s in in that that night I mean that night my mind was thinking and what is next okay for me what I need to do to get a title back I remember a long talk with my manager with Jason house and I think like hey maybe we need to do this or this or two or or these things and just like sharing like thoughts between us and he tried to give me some advices and and talking with him saying like how I fell in the fight on the training camp even before and and that’s it in that moment I think it was the moment of you know been in my hotel room after the fight like 3am talking with my manager that’s crazy yeah so when you started this Camp was it in uh Kansas City yes I’m still there yes I I was there like two weeks two weeks in total so like late November you would have been there yeah I think so okay and what was this what was the situation like did you ever think that potentially that this is going to grow into something in which I’m going to have to find a different so what happened with James when did you start to think that like okay he might not be able to coach me for this fight uh I remember this specific moment was uh I think one of the or I think smile Jones had a fight against Miss Morales here in in Las Vegas and James wasn’t able to be in the corner so in that moment all the team was like all the the the fighters in the UFC started like what can happen in the future so he just in that moment I start to think about the future nothing really like like nothing like very serious but yeah I started to get the thoughts okay do you remember then when it became apparent that no I cannot have James in my corner like when did that happen when you knew for sure um he called me one day he called me I think he was the day before all the the the the the media start to put the the new you know in you know Instagram social media uh the day before he called me and we had a deep conversation and he told me about the situation and everything and that said man I mean I can’t lie to you was a little bit disappointment and I was a little bit sad but something special in me and I can recognize that it’s like I’m very good like passing the page like I need to do if I need to do something to change the my bad situation I will and like fast so in when up after the the call with James I’m starting to think what is next for me so how quickly do you think you came back to Vegas after that very quickly yeah that was that was one Wednesday and next Monday I I I I came here to base I came back to Vegas at that point were you thinking I need a head coach or like where did how did you start processing like okay what is the next move what do I need like how did that work uh and again and I think that is a huge example how important is Jason house in my life right now he said like like he’s like uh like a brother for me because he’s not just uh he’s not that just a manager he’s like a very close of friend of mine um he started talking with me like hey man like I know you you feel ready and I know you feel prepared for the challenge well I don’t know maybe is something like crazy happen in the Tira in the tear around and in that crazy moment with the with the with the crowd being crazy screaming like all the pressure yeah maybe you need somebody who put all the uh the effort and cool down everybody around you uh uh maybe you need a head coach right so yeah he started to give me some names and that’s why that’s when a safe came with me and he he come with us and that’s why I have a lot of respect for for you because uh he did from the bottom of his heart like hey I just wanna help I don’t I don’t want like nothing I don’t want like any Craig I don’t want nothing I just want to help I I just want to help him and like hey man like let’s go let’s try so he came one day I think he had he had a few Fighters fighting the Apex I don’t remember well but he came and we we trained together he gave me he gave me all uh his thoughts about the fight what he think he can I could do in the last one and we start to connect you know we start to connect obviously it was hard for for everybody because he was a kind of new like working with a new team kind of because again I I have already my boxing coach I have my my Jujitsu coach my monitor coach so and maybe they feel they feel so or two weeks the thing was like try to build everything together but right now in this moment I feel we did it and I feel very confident about what we did in the in the training camp right this this part is the last one and and I’m ready to fight just a couple more men uh do you think that beating Davidson and putting him behind you well that top when when you first won the title or will nothing ever topped that that night when you first won the championship I don’t know I think I can I can answer that maybe if we have another another interview after the fight with the with the veil and with the picture with my hand race I can I can answer but man that uh fight against Davidson beating him you know real Nikki Cho with the title wherever then that is a special part of my head right now yeah do you think you will fight in Mexico City this year hopefully you know and uh almost did a little bit disappointment because I hear GMC wanted to do it last year and you know I don’t know I obviously I don’t know what happened uh I hope hopefully this year and more with the performance Institute they are building in Mexico City and we can do something huge like maybe like inauguration with the with the building and then the event in the weekend I don’t know I just like just thinking but hopefully 2023 will be the return of the UFC in Mexico City yeah last thing on the girls making the trip you taking your family down to the fight no you know what normally uh is right right now it’s just my wife is going through my fights first one because the long trips long trips are hard for for my daughters I don’t know if you have a Sons or or daughters but it’s very hard to put your your sons in a flight even more in a long flight you know all the people watching you hating you because your your boys are crying oh sorry you know I remember I had a eye after actually after my my fire against Davidson when I when I won the title we went to Puerto Vallarta for vacations but it wasn’t just a two-hour flight man my my youngest daughter was crying the whole two hours everybody was watching me man a few guys recognized me like oh poor Brothers like sorry so yes man so that’s the first one the second one 2022 was hard for me in when uh kamaru Usman four against Leon Edwards was like two shirts besides me yeah and then Leon connect the kick and Camaro went to the floor and the little uh girl was crying so hard man that break my heart and the second one in France a a gun knock uh to ibasa out and his wife and his son was here and you know trivasa get knocked knock knock out and man that was a hard move for me so I don’t know if I want that for my for my girls right now they’re very young my in the moment when now I’m in in Rio de Janeiro for my five week my my other daughters Madison is turning nine years old so they are very young right now it will be nine years four years and two years my three daughters so right now they can enjoy life and watching in TV thank you for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming Sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus