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In his first title defense since regaining the UFC flyweight championship, Brandon Moreno will stand across the Octagon from a familiar foe. Moreno is set to face Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 290 on July 8, UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell told ESPN.

The two men previously met in May 2018, with Pantoja scoring a unanimous decision victory. Later that year, Moreno was released from his UFC contract. He would be back, of course, going on a seven-fight unbeaten streak that culminated in a win over Deiveson Figueiredo to capture the flyweight championship after the two had battled to a draw in their first meeting.

Moreno dropped the title back to Figueiredo in his next fight, then captured the interim belt with a win over Kai Kara-France. He then regained the undisputed championship with a TKO win over Figueiredo in their fourth fight.

Since effectively ending Moreno's first UFC stint, Pantoja has gone 6-2, including a current three-fight winning streak. The two defeats came against Figueiredo and Askar Askarov. With Askarov losing his most recent fight to Kara-France, Pantoja slides into the opportunity to defeat Moreno again, this time with championship gold on the line.

Moreno vs. Pantoja joins the previously announced UFC 290 bout between featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and interim champion Yair Rodriguez. Highly touted prospect Bo Nickal is also set for the card, taking on Tresean Gore.

UFC 290 takes place from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Traditionally, the July pay-per-view card is one of the biggest of the year for the UFC and the two title fights are a good start toward this year being no different.