A trilogy bout between UFC flyweight champion, Brandon Moreno, and top contender, Alexandre Pantoja, has been booked as the co-main event of UFC 290 on July 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Instagram page, Freak MMA, was the first to report the news of the matchup being in the works, with ESPN's Marc Raimondi confirming the booking shortly thereafter with UFC Chief Business Officer, Hunter Campbell early Wednesday morning.
Pantoja is 2-0 against Moreno, defeating him for the first time via a second-round submission win on season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter back in August 2016. The pair would then meet again at UFC Fight Night 129 in May 2018, where Pantoja would defeat Moreno for a second time via a lopsided unanimous decision victory.
Since that second loss to Pantoja, Moreno has gone 7-1-2 in his last 10 fights and is coming off a third-round TKO win over former UFC flyweight champ, Deiveson Figueiredo, in their fourth meeting at UFC 283 back in January. Pantoja meanwhile is 6-2 in his eight Octagon outings since his last meeting with Moreno. The 32-year-old Rio de Janeiro, Brazil native will look to build on a first-round submission victory over former title challenger, Alex Perez, back at UFC 277 last July.
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