UFC president Dana White explained why the UFC booked Brandon Moreno vs. Deiveson Figueiredo 3 instead of Alexandre Pantoja instead.

After Pantoja submitted Brandon Royval last month, he was fully expected to get the next title shot against Moreno. After all, Pantoja has two previous wins over Moreno — one in TUF, and one in the UFC — and after submitting Royval in devastating fashion, he deserved the chance to fight for the belt. However, the UFC chose to go a different route as the promotion recently announced that Moreno will not be fighting Pantoja next. Instead, Moreno will be fighting Figueiredo, and the two will meet at UFC 269 in a trilogy fight.

Speaking to reporters following this week’s edition of the Contender Series, White was asked why the promotion decided to go with the Figueiredo trilogy fight instead of Pantoja. According to White, Pantoja was not ready to fight in December, and so the UFC went with the next-best option, which in its opinion was the trilogy between Moreno and Figueiredo.

White tells media that the plan was to do Moreno vs. Pantoja, but Pantoja fell out of the fight and they felt the trilogy was the only thing that made sense and says both guys wanted it.

Figueiredo has been stumping for a title shot ever since he lost his belt in the rematch at UFC 263 back in June, but Moreno to this point had said that he wanted a fresh challenger for the belt. In the end, it will be the two rivals running it back for a third and potentially final time. It should be interesting to see how this one plays out given their history.

Do you think the UFC made the right call in booking Brandon Moreno vs. Deiveson Figueiredo or do you think the promotion should have waited for Alexandre Pantoja?