On August 5, the UFC will touch down in Mexico City, Mexico for the fourth time. It will do so with UFC Fight Night 114, a card that, while still some distance away, is already coming together.
On Sunday afternoon, the UFC announced the main event for this anticipated return to Mexico. This main event will occur at flyweight, where Mexico’s own Brandon Moreno will take on established star Sergio Pettis. The two talents, who stand out as perhaps the brightest contenders in the division, will battle to take a huge step up the flyweight ladder, and perhaps even earn a shot at dominant divisional king Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.
Pettis, who is ranked sixth in the UFC flyweight division, will enter this fight on an impressive, three-fight streak. This streak began with a decision triumph over former title challenger Chris Cariaso. From there, it continued with a decision defeat of Chris Kelades. Pettis’ most recent win, finally, occurred January, when he defeated another former title challenger in John Moraga. Pettis was expected to return to the cage against Henry Cejudo at UFC 211, but this fight was cancelled when Cejudo withdrew with an injury.The flyweight star, who is the younger brother of former UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis, is an impressive 15-2 in sum.
Moreno, who s ranked seventh at flyweight, sort of came out of nowhere. The 23-year-old burst into the limelight by submitting the well-established Louis Smolka with a first-round choke in his short notice UFC debut. From there, he built ont his momentum with a decision defeat of the talented Ryan Benoit. Moreno’s latest win, which is perhaps his most impressive, occurred in April when he dropped long-time contender Dustin Ortiz and choked him out with a rear-naked choke. With this win, the young prospect improved to 14-3 in sum. He has not lost since July of 2012.
Who do you think wins this Sergio Pettis vs. Brandon Moreno main event?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/21/2017.