Brandon Moreno has a theory on why he saw Henry Cejudo in his opponent’s corner at UFC 270.
The former UFC two-division champion was a cornerman and coach for Deiveson Figueiredo before the Brazilian’s trilogy bout with Moreno. He celebrated when Figueiredo regained the flyweight title by winning a thrilling unanimous decision win.
Moreno and Cejudo had previously trained together, but Moreno later trained with Joseph Benavidez ahead of Benavidez’s split decision win over Cejudo in December 2016. That history added drama to Moreno and Figueiredo’s third meeting, with Figueiredo going as far as to say that he would “take off Brandon Moreno’s head” for Cejudo to make up for the perceived slight.
On The MMA Hour on Wednesday, Moreno explained the difference between him working with Benavidez and Cejudo deciding to prepare Figueiredo to fight Moreno.
“I don’t have nothing to clear with him,” Moreno said when asked about Cejudo. “I respect him, not because I hate the man. Although he claimed I was a traitor, I want to clarify that I did go with Joseph Benavidez because it was necessary. That was the first time I went alone. I had no team in Tijuana and my Arizona team was with other men. It was a professional career [move], because anybody cares about my family, anybody can say something and put his opinion, but in the moment you need to make decisions. My family is my priority. I don’t give a f*ck, nothing more, just my family, just my daughters, just my wife.
“When I went to Joseph Benavidez, it was for necessity. This guy is doing this not for necessity. This is revenge. Even with this, I still respect him and hope he’ll be a good family man.
Three days after his title fight loss, Moreno appeared to be in good spirits, which is consistent with how he has carried himself before and after winning the title and now after finding himself once again in the contenders’ circle.
Even though Moreno doesn’t want to let the prospect of another fight and all the comments made about it before the third match, Moreno still has a fond memory of his walk out in Anaheim in front of an enthusiastic and supportive audience.
“I walked up to the Octagon and began to look at all the Mexican flags. I was like “Man, where is this energy?” Moreno stated, “This is insane.” Because I have never attempted this, I’m so stuck in certain points.
“I’m just trying to be real in my normal life, just trying to enjoy the journey with all the obstacles and all the good things and I never needed to do some trash talk or be a bad guy with somebody, put some drama in my life. That’s why I love this because the people can recognize who I am and they love that and that’s amazing.”
After the fight, Figueiredo called Moreno a “crybaby” in response to Moreno suggesting that the scorecards should have gone the other way. Figueiredo was full of praises for Moreno during the build-up to the fight, so it’s not surprising that the post-fight photo is a retort.
Moreno laughed the insult off and suggested that Figueiredo’s new persona may have more to do with those around him than his own actual attitude.
“I say this before, so again I feel the same, I really think he’s a nice guy,” Moreno said. He’s an honest person but surrounded by bad and crazy people who tell him, “You have to sell the fight” and “You must say this,” and “You need the fighter to win.” But, Moreno said that he is a nice guy, but that he has a lot of trash talking and fake appearances at press conferences. That’s why I was like, ‘Man, what are you doing? Why are you trying so hard to impress all the people here?’
“I don’t have that in my life, as I stated before. It’s better to be honest with people. This is who I am. You can love me or you hate me. But this is what I am .”
