Brandon Moreno had to make a quick pivot when the James Krause situation played out.
Late this past year, Krause had his Nevada athletic license suspended pending an investigation into betting irregularities surrounding Darrick Minner’s fight with Shayilan Nuerdanbieke at UFC Vegas 64. Shortly afterward, the UFC took the additional step of prohibiting any fighters associating with him from participating in UFC events until the investigations are resolved.
That put Moreno, who moved to Kansas City in June to start working with Krause, in a bit of a bind because he was preparing for his flyweight title tetralogy with Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 283. Speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, he explained exactly how he found out about the ban and how quickly he was able to change course.
“It was hard when everything started,” Moreno said. “Of course it was hard. In fact, I was actually in Kansas City. James was also in Kansas City, so we had an extensive conversation. He told me the whole situation, and I understood. But in that moment, I decided to turn the page quickly and decide what I wanted to do. The news had been published Wednesday or Thursday. I was there .”
the next Monday.
“It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
With Krause absent, Moreno spent the training camp at Xtreme Couture with Sayif Saud, his new head coach. Saud, who is the Dallas-based Fortis MMA’s head, is not in Las Vegas. However, Moreno stated that his team noticed something missing while he was preparing for Figueiredo. After a while, they reached out and worked with Saud to find a suitable match.
” I was willing to travel by myself and my coaches to Rio with my trainers, take the fight,” Moreno stated. “Because I promise, maybe it’s because I’m excited, but man, I’m ready to fight. All this training camp I felt like this was the best training camp of my life. It was hard, but at the same time, a very smart training camp.
“So I was ready fight, but I was talking with Jason and we had a deep conversation. Like, ‘Hey man, I understand you feel ready to fight, and you are ready to go with your coaches, but I feel like we need somebody with experience, because you never know what can happen in the middle of the fight. You need experienced guys to keep the tension down. Anything bad could happen during a fight. Experienced, a man who can keep his mind open and give you sound advice based on the circumstances. That’s why I chose to partner with Sayif from Fortis MMA. …
“I started to talk with him and he was like, ‘Hey man, I don’t want any credit. It’s okay to want everything. I just want to help, because I know all the hard work [you have] put in for this fight. … Even for the friendship I have for James, I just want to help.’ So I decided to try [it out]. One day he came to Vegas, we trained together, he told me all his thoughts about the fight, his mentality about the game plan and all the stuff, and I feel very comfortable with him. Working with him was easy. We closed the training camp together in the most efficient way. My sparring looks very sharp, my cardio’s on point, I have a few tricks for Deiveson in the next fight, so I’m ready.”
For the moment, Moreno does not have any plans for his future training. After moving to Kansas City and Glory MMA in June, and then moving again to Las Vegas, he said he isn’t ready to make yet another move to Dallas, at least not at the moment. There’s also the possibility that the ban on training with Krause will get lifted. He previously posted to his social media hoping for that outcome, and should it happen, “The Assassin Baby” does not rule out a return to working with Krause.
” You never know what the future holds,” Moreno stated. “The situation is very serious. I did that post because I love him. I love James Krause. When I needed help, he helped me a lot. He opened his home with his family and helped me with the gym, with training, and we got the interim title together.
“So I love James Krause. And I said this before, at the end of the day, if he did that, that was bad, and he will need to pay in the future. [they] may be able to put things in order and make his name right. I just need to wait. It is about time.
In the meantime, the bulk of Moreno’s attention is going toward his flyweight unification bout against Figueiredo, which takes place next Saturday, Jan. 21, in Rio de Janeiro.
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/1/12/23550771/brandon-moreno-how-james-krause-situation-affected-training-camp-it-was-hard-when-everything-started?rand=96749
