The bout between Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi has been set as a new UFC Fight Night main event on November 2 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Canada. The five-round flyweight contest features Mexico’s former two-time champion and No. 2-ranked contender up against No. 3 of Iraq.
Moreno and Albazi were initially expected to battle it out in February in Mexico City. The latter withdrew due to neck injury, and was replaced by Brandon Royval. Top-ranked contender of Denver, Colorado walked away with the win over his old rival by split decision.
Battling it out at UFC Edmonton, Moreno (21-8-2) looks to rebound from a pair of defeats. Prior to his second fight with Royval, last July the 30-year-old native of Tijuana dropped a split decision against Alexandre Pantoja and lost his 125 lbs belt.
Albazi (17-1) makes his first Octagon appearance in almost a year and a half. The Las Vegas-based 30-year-old defeated Kai Kara-France by split decision last June and secured his sixth win in a row.
The fight was initially reported (by Bert_MMA via post on X) as “in the works” for UFC Vegas 100 main event held a week later. The promotion announced the UFC Edmonton main event, featuring Moreno up against Albazi, on Tuesday afternoon (also via post on X).
The original UFC Edmonton main event was set to see Rose Namajunas (13-6) versus Erin Blanchfield (12-2). The contest, pitting former two-time strawweight champion and No. 5-ranked flyweight contender of Milwaukee, Wisconsin against No. 3 of Elmwood Park, New Jersey, now serves as the co-main event.
The current UFC Edmonton lineup looks as the following:
- Brandon Moreno vs. Amir Albazi
- Erin Blanchfield vs. Rose Namajunas
- Derrick Lewis vs. Jhonata Diniz
- Aiemann Zahabi vs. Pedro Munhoz
- Mike Malott vs. Trevin Giles
- Caio Machado vs. Brendson Ribeiro
- Alexander Romanov vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
- Chad Anheliger vs. Cody Gibson
- Serhiy Sidey vs. Garrett Armfield
- Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
- Ariane Lipski vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
- Jamey-Lyn Horth vs. Ivana Petrovic