Outside Source
UFC Mexico is in the books and Brandon Moreno is still in the thick of the flyweight title picture.
This past Saturday, Moreno finally got his first win in Mexico City, dispatching Steve Erceg via unanimous decision to stay in the title hunt at 125 pounds. Where does Moreno go from here? And what about Erceg and the rest of the card? Let’s dive into your questions this week.
Brandon Moreno
Brandon Moreno, 31 years young, pretty clearly still one of the three best flyweights on the planet, arguably beat the champ last time… what does the UFC do with this guy???
— Alexander K Lee (@AlexanderKLee) April 1, 2025
“Brandon Moreno, 31 years young, pretty clearly still one of the three best flyweights on the planet, arguably beat the champ last time… what does the UFC do with this guy???”
Honestly, no idea.
Moreno looked good on Saturday, handing Erceg his third loss in a row and moving his own win streak to two, but what exactly does that mean? I know Moreno called for another crack at Pantoja but, frankly, I don’t think that’s happening. I won’t say it’s a definite no—UFC 320 being Noche UFC and in Mexico means anything is possible—but at this point I’d be pretty surprised.
There are two major problems with a Moreno title shot. First, he’s 0-3 against Pantoja. I know two of those fights were a lifetime ago, but 0-3 is still 0-3. Moreno is going to need to be undeniable to get another run at the champion right now, and frankly, he’s not that. Some people may not like the decision, but Brandon Royval beat Moreno not that long ago, so he should be ahead in line. More importantly, Manel Kape looks to be the next man up for Pantoja sometime later this year.
But what if he isn’t? What if there’s a third option nobody is thinking about? What if Pantoja moves up?
At the moment, Pantoja has essentially cleaned out 125. He’s got multiple wins over the No. 1 and No. 2 guy, and wins over the No. 4 and No. 6 guys who are probably the most obvious title challengers. What else is there to do? Especially now that his friend and training partner Kyoji Horiguchi is returning to the UFC. People are talking about them fighting, and maybe they’d do that, or maybe Pantoja shoots for something bigger.
I think we’re going to see Pantoja take on Manel Kape in the next couple of months and then he moves up to 135 to challenge Merab Dvalishvili, who also has a dearth of new title challengers available. That opens the door for the UFC to have Moreno and Royval fight for an interim title at UFC 320 in September.
Steve Erceg AKA “Vinnie Cigs”
Is it time that we all recognise that Vinnie Ciggs is a good fighter, but not a great one? Can we go back to giving him fun matches in the 10-30 range? He has been thrown in the deep end and lost against only the elite, why not give him 4/5 fights back down in winnable range.
— Jordan van wyck (@VanVanwyck1) March 30, 2025
“Is it time that we all recognize that Vinnie Ciggs is a good fighter, but not a great one? Can we go back to giving him fun matches in the 10-30 range? He has been thrown in the deep end and lost against only the elite, why not give him 4/5 fights back down in winnable range.”
No. Not at all. Erceg is a victim of his own success and we shouldn’t dock him for that.
Yes, Steve Erceg is now on a three-fight losing streak. But those losses have come against three of the five best fighters in the weight class, and came in his 4th, 5th, and 6th UFC fights respectively. That’s not a sign that Erceg is mid, it’s a sign that he’s damn good.
Erceg is 29 years old and has been a professional fighter for nine years. When he signed with the UFC he was never supposed to get this far this fast. Instead, he got shot up the ranks because there was an opening and you don’t turn down those opportunities. And while he lost to Pantoja, he made a good show of it. “Good but not great” fighters don’t give one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world all they can handle for 25 minutes.
Knocking Erceg for these losses is like knocking LeBron James for losing in the finals. The man made the finals for eight consecutive seasons. That’s bananas! What Erceg accomplished isn’t nearly as cool but it’s still impressive and should be lauded.
That being said, a step back down would be welcome.
Steve Erceg continued
What does the UFC do with Vinnie Cigs next? He’s lost three straight, but it’s against arguably the three best flyweights on the roster.
— Adam Hutchison (@Adamhutchison8) March 30, 2025
“What does the UFC do with Vinnie Cigs next? He’s lost three straight, but it’s against arguably the three best flyweights on the roster.”
As mentioned above, a step back does feel appropriate at this point. I think Erceg could have plenty of success against other guys in the top 10, but I’ve also long been of the opinion that people in the top 15 need to defend their position against rising talent to give everyone a fair shake at breaking through. Flyweight has a ton of young, up-and-coming talent and Erceg is should have to hold the line against one of them.
Personally, I’d like to see either Joshua Van or Ramazan Temirov get the opportunity to take Erceg’s spot from him.
Manuel Torres
Is Manuel Torres a future champion?
— Daniel Pompilio (@elpompilio) March 30, 2025
“Is Manuel Torres a future champion?”
Of my heart, maybe. But no, not of the UFC.
If you didn’t see it, Torres nearly killed Drew Dober on Saturday (with an assist from referee Mike Beltran). The win moved Torres to 4-1 in the promotion and got people really excited, but they should pump the breaks.
Torres is undeniably fun (he earned a Performance bonus in each of his wins and Ignacio Bahamondes got one in Torres’s lone loss) but he’s not exactly beating world-beaters. Drew Dober is a great action fighter but he’s on the grayer side of cooked at this point. Moreover, Torres is 30 and lightweight is an impossible division to climb the ranks in. He’s simply too old to ever make it to the belt, if he could in the first place.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t love “El Loco” and we should. Guys like Torres are a guaranteed good time every time they fight and with a crop of similar talents around him — Bahamondes, Benoit Saint-Denis, Joel Alvarez, Mauricio Ruffy — we should be looking at some damn fine matchups at 155 over the next few years.
Ronaldo Rodriguez
do you think lazy boy got fraud checked?
— brain (@braiiinnnnn) March 30, 2025
“Do you think Lazy Boy got fraud checked?”
No, but that’s mainly because I never was very high on Rodriguez in the first place.
“Lazy Boy” was not a fighter I was massively high on when the promotion signed him for reasons that showed themselves on Saturday. He doesn’t have the greatest fight I.Q. and while he obviously has some talent, it’s not otherworldly. Add in the weight miss and UFC Mexico was a disaster for Rodriguez.
Now, Rodriguez is only 25 years old and he’s massively popular, so that helps his longterm outlook. If he can refocus and drill down, maybe “Lazy Boy” becomes something at 125 pounds. But he’d better hurry.
Flyweight is getting better every day and there’s a huge crop of super young and talented 125’ers that are already on the rise and ahead of where Rodriguez is.
All-Time Greats
Who do you think are on the verge of being all time greats? Does another good ufc run make kyoji a top 40 fighter ever? Does getting to 3 Title Defenses make merab top 25? Is islam two wins away from being in the goat convo?
— Dylan Barth (@dylaneb11) March 30, 2025
“Who do you think are on the verge of being all-time greats? Does another good UFC run make Kyoji a top 40 fighter ever? Does getting to three Title Defenses make Merab top 25? Is Islam Makhachev two wins away from being in the goat convo?”
I think viewing fighters as all time greats is a much better way to look at things than debating GOAT status, so I really like this question.
First off, let’s clear this up: Islam Makhachev is already in the GOAT conversation. He’s arguably the greatest lightweight ever and lightweight is the best division, so he’s in the discussion. Two more title defenses makes him undeniably the GOAT lightweight and really in the convo.
Now, to the other matter: if I were to sit down and list it out, the All Time Great Club probably has somewhere between 25 and 50 members. And by my estimation, there are 11 currently active fighters who qualify (12 if you count Jon Jones) — Makhachev, Alexandre Pantoja, Jose Aldo, Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, Charles Oliveira, Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira, Zhang Weili, Valentina Shevchenko and Jones. You could make a case for a few others (Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, and Rose Namajunas are reasonable considerations) but those are the ones who cannot be denied at this point. But they may have a few more join them soon.
If I was betting money, I’d wager that before their careers are done, Merab Dvalishvili, Ilia Topuria, Dricus du Plessis, and Tom Aspinall all find their way into the ATG club. And of course there are plenty of other fighters who might get there but it’s simply too soon to tell.
Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer all the good ones! It doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.
This article first appeared at MMA Fighting – All Posts
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