5 cross-promotion fights involving UFC stars that could guarantee a slugfest
The UFC is undoubtedly the biggest MMA promotion in the world right now, but it doesn’t necessarily house all of the world’s best fighters.
Plenty of the world’s best fighters compete in Bellator MMA or ONE Championship rather than the UFC, which means that in an ideal world, we’d see some cross-promotion bouts.
The UFC obviously won’t touch any cross-promotion bouts with a bargepole, but if they were willing to involve themselves in such things, there’d be plenty of interesting fights to make, even if they didn’t involve their champions.
So with this in mind, here are five cross-promotion fights involving UFC stars that could be slugfests.
#5. Brandon Moreno (UFC) vs. Adriano Moraes (ONE)
This time last year, the biggest possible inter-promotional fight to make in the flyweight division would’ve pitted the UFC’s Deiveson Figueiredo against former UFC flyweight champion and then-ONE champion Demetrious Johnson.
Since then, though, both Figueiredo and Johnson have fallen to new talents, and so a fight between UFC champion Brandon Moreno and ONE champion Adriano Moraes would now be the best cross-promotion fight to make in the division.
What’s more, it’d likely be a hugely exciting fight too, as both fighters bring a remarkably aggressive attitude into the cage every time they fight.
Moreno has always been one of the UFC’s most exciting flyweights, with his brand of fighting blending a hyperactive grappling game with an aggressive pressure striking game.
But the Mexican seems to have really reached his potential now, and is unbeaten in seven fights, with finishes of Figueiredo and Brandon Royval highlighting his dangerous skills.
Moraes, meanwhile, has 19 wins to his name with just three losses, two of which he’s avenged. He’s also deadly from all areas of a fight, as we saw when he became the first man to ever stop Johnson in their fight in April.
Who would win this fight? It’s hard to say, as in this case, Johnson was hardly washed out of the UFC and has reeled off three wins since leaving – meaning Moraes is as legitimate as it gets.
Either way though, it would likely be a fantastic fight to watch and would definitely be one of the best cross-promotion fights that could be made right now.