While Brandon Moreno’s upbeat smile always takes centerstage, it’s his boxing that does the talking inside the octagon. The gritty flyweight fighter just came out of yet another dominant win against Steve Erceg over the weekend, prompting former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling to draw parallels with boxer Canelo Alvarez.
Canelo is the WBC, WBA, and WBO super-middleweight champion of the world, who pressures his opponents throughout the fight to induce mistakes. He is also known to have fists of steel- a metal that extends to his chin as well.
While Moreno doesn’t exactly have those traits, his style is somewhat similar. Take Sunday’s fight at UFC: Mexico City, for instance. Moreno and Erceg kicked things off with a cautious start, trading leg kicks and jabs while feeling each other out.
But a couple minutes in, Moreno lit up the crowd with a slick one-two that rocked Erceg and instantly shifted the energy in the arena. From there, Moreno started landing combos more freely, despite catching some vicious counters.
Sterling, as he often does, shared a breakdown of the fight on social media and said, “He kind of has that signature boxing style similar to Canelo Alvarez. We’re used to seeing Brandon Moreno jump into the fire and get into the mix.”
Claiming that this spark had been at the mercy of his mood in the last few fights, Sterling added, “It’s like we see shades of it then we see a bit of timidity. But this time we saw a lot more confidence from him. I thought it was a great performance.”
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In fact, Moreno was so confident about his performance that he called out the UFC brass for not depending on him to sell out PPVs in his home country of Mexico.
Moreno calls for UFC PPV later this year in Mexico
“I’ve gone through so much to be here,” he said, emotional and clearly overwhelmed. “This is all for you.” He thanked fans for showing up, knowing how tough it is for many just to get a ticket.
But then he turned his attention to what’s next—and he didn’t hold back. Calling out UFC exec Hunter Campbell, Moreno said, “I don’t know what I deserve, but I believe I can move the needle. Let’s go for the pay-per-view in Guadalajara. Let’s f***ing go!”
The win was huge for Moreno (23-8-2), especially after the UFC confirmed that this year’s Noche UFC event will take place in Guadalajara. Despite it being a major showcase for Mexican fighters, Moreno hasn’t yet competed on the card—something he’s clearly eager to change.
Hopefully, he can challenge Alexandre Pantoja for the title on the card.
