Brandon Moreno dominates, becomes first to defeat Amir Albazi in UFC Edmonton main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us tonight, November 2, 2024, for UFC Edmonton, going down live from the Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Headlining the event is a flyweight bout between no. 2 ranked former two-time UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno (22-8-2) and no. 3 ranked former UCMMA and FSC bantamweight champion Amir Albazi (17-2).
Moreno came into the bout off back-to-back five round defeats in razor close fights against current champion Alexandre Pantoja (SD) when he lost the belt in July of last year, and then no. 1 ranked Brandon Royval (SD) in his latest appearance earlier this year in February.
Albazi on the other hand had gone a perfect 5-0 inside his UFC tenure to date, having defeated the likes of Malcolm Gordon (triangle choke), Zhalgas Zhumagulov (UD), Francisco Figueiredo (rear naked choke), Alessandro Costa (KO), and Kai Kara-France (SD) going into the biggest fight of his career.
Continue reading to see how our UFC Edmonton flyweight main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Brandon Moreno def. Amir Albazi via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45)
Round one was very much a feeling out process, Moreno catching Albazi with a stinging right hand in the final minute of it, the most significant strike landed throughout the opening five minutes.
Moreno landed a good head kick early on in the second and had Albazi hurt though he recovered well. Albazi secured a double leg, but only for a split second as Moreno got right back to his feet and continued out-striking him on the feet.
By the end of two Albazi had landed just nine total strikes.
The former champion really started to bust Albazi up in the third, utilizing his superior boxing and footwork to win every striking exchange.
Moreno continued his striking attack in rounds four and five, hurting Albazi badly in the fifth with a nasty left hook and also a right hand later on in the round leading up to his handed unanimous decision victory.
After not fighting since June of 2023, coming into the bout off each a heart surgery as well as neck surgery, along with fighting the best fighter he’d ever competed against; he barely got past Kara-France who Moreno’s 2-0 against, this was certainly a tough return for Amir Albazi.
Brandon Moreno surpasses former longtime UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson for the most strikes landed in flyweight history tonight in UFC Edmonton’s main event.
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