Brandon Moreno could join elite club with Conor McGregor, GSP, and Israel Adesanya at UFC 283

Brandon Moreno has an opportunity to join an elite club with the likes of Conor McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, and Israel Adesanya this Saturday at UFC 283.

The interim flyweight champion will meet the division's reigning king, Deiveson Figueiredo, in a quadrilogy bout. The Mexican will look to unify the title and win their series, which currently sits level at 1-1-1.

Unification bouts haven't always favored the interim champion, something Brandon Moreno will look to change by joining an elite club.

Breakdown:

Interim champions are 6-7 in Unification bouts.

Fighters that Won their Unification bout: Couture, GSP, Werdum, Conor, Holloway, Adesanya.

Fighters that Lost their Unification bout: Mir, Carwin, Condit, Poirier, Gaethje, Gane, Yan

Per Jed I. Goodman on Twitter, interim champions are 6-7 in unification bouts. Among the victors are McGregor, Adesanya, and St-Pierre. 'The Assassin Baby' will hope to improve the score to 7-7 when he fights 'Deus Da Guerra' at UFC 283.

Figueiredo, on the other hand, will look to join the elite group of champions who have retained their belts against interim titleholders. The group includes the likes of Brock Lesnar, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Francis Ngannou.

Brandon Moreno opens up about switching coaches

Brandon Moreno talks about having to change coaches ahead of UFC 283 #TheMMAHour

"It was hard when everything started, of course... I had a long conversation with James [Krause]. He told me the whole situation and I understood."

▶️ youtu.be/8FFpJrQbHgk https://t.co/DSep1AXBLr

Brandon Moreno was forced to deal with a unique situation as he parted ways with James Krause as a result of his betting scandal.

During his appearance on The MMA Hour, 'The Assassin Baby' opened up about the unfortunate circumstances that led to him having to switch coaches. He mentioned that he had a difficult conversation with Krause, saying:

"It was hard when everything started. Of course, everything was a little bit hard...I had a long conversation with James [Krause]. He told me all of the situation and I understood. But at that moment, I decided to turn the page quickly and decide what I wanted to do."

The interim flyweight champion will look to unify the title and win the deciding bout in his rivalry with Deiveson Figueiredo. Since 2020, they have fought on three separate occasions, with each of them being title fights.

While discussing his gameplan against Figueiredo, Moreno told Helwani that he is very well prepared and had an excellent training camp, despite the circumstances surrounding his coaching change.

He added:

"All of this training camp, I feel like the best training camp of my life because it was hard, but at the same time, it was a very smart training camp."

Check out the full interview: