Ahead of Brandon Moreno’s fourth championship bout against Devieson Figueiredo, he revealed on social media that he was working with Fortis MMA head coach Sayif Saud following the suspension of James Krause.
Moreno won the undisputed flyweight championship at Saturday’s UFC 283 show. He was awarded a TKO by a doctor following round three. Moreno and Krause fought together prior to Moreno’s fight against Kai Kara-France for the interim title at UFC 277. Moreno won by TKO. Moreno was aware that the UFC had imposed a ban on Krause from being suspended and for him to not be part of any promotion. Krause was also banned from training with UFC fighters at Glory MMA.
Saud went with it, and when asked if he contacted Krause ahead of the partnership, he revealed no conversation was necessarily needed.
“No, I didn’t [talk to James],” Saud said on The MMA Hour. I know James. We were coworkers, had a long relationship, and we have been friends for some time. Whatever the situation is for James it will be.
” I have not spoken with him. He is my best friend and I wish it all the very best. But I don’t know if that’s being realistic, and I don’t know if that’s even a possibility at this point. Brandon and I had a brief conversation about this at the start. We both knew James, liked James and we understand the situation. Ultimately the only goal was to become the undisputed champion. All other feelings and emotions are secondary.
“The winner of this fight will win all subsequent fights. Whoever won this fight won the history. The history will be made by the person who won this fight. It was just really important to focus on this fight.”
As the fight was a little over a month away, Saud said that Moreno’s manager reached out to see if he would be able to help the 29-year-old fighter prepare for the biggest fight of his career.
” I think it was in the first week December,” Saud stated on The MMA Hour. It was also the week of the [World] MMA Awards, as I had worked alongside him on Friday. The whole thing happened after the [World] MMA Awards. Unfortunately, his situation [involving Krause]. made it difficult to plan.
“Jason House reached out to me, we talked, I said I would be in there in Vegas cornering someone and going to the awards. I went there and met up with Brandon, and we had our first session.”
While every head coach would love to have the chance to take on one of their title opponents, it was not something that Saud or Moreno had. Of course, they knew each other and had spoken to each other in the past, but they hadn’t worked together before in a professional sense.
Because of this, Saud wanted to ensure that the pair matched before he agreed to anything.
” My only wish was to train and meet him in person, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they get along,” Saud stated. Brandon is one the most loved ****** men in MMA. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like Brandon Moreno. Brandon Moreno is a great family man, a good friend, and he’s so lovable.
” I just view him as one those guys who are salt of the earth and that is exactly what he seems to be. Character wise, and personality wise, I don’t think it gets much better than that.”
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/1/24/23568510/sayif-saud-explains-how-he-began-working-with-brandon-moreno-following-suspension-of-james-krause?rand=96749
