Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi have healed. The flyweight contenders have had championship designs impeded by well being points. Moreno and Albazi headline UFC Combat Night time in Edmonton, Canada on Saturday with a title shot inside view.
Moreno (21-8-2) is worked up for combat week. It has been some time since he is felt that means. The previous UFC flyweight champion returns from his longest layoff since 2020 which remains to be, amusingly, solely eight months lengthy. Such is the lifetime of a fighter it appears. However Moreno says time spent together with his household and LEGO assortment was tremendously rejuvenating as he appears to bounce again from consecutive losses to Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval.
“I had two or three years in a row on the grind. There have been a number of obligations preventing title fights,” Moreno informed CBS Sports activities. “In some unspecified time in the future that exploded in my thoughts. For those who put it along with a number of bodily accidents, I needed to heal my thoughts and physique to have the ability to combat once more.聽
“In my final combat — and I do not need to make any excuses as a result of Brandon Royval is a tremendous fighter and deserves every part he is doing now — however in my thoughts, making an attempt to do not forget that second within the combat, I wasn’t there. My physique was there and I used to be throwing punches however my thoughts wasn’t there. I felt very annoyed as a result of I knew I used to be a lot better than the man who fought in February. That was the breaking level.”
Albazi (17-1) returns after the hardest battle of his profession. Albazi is an ideal 5-0 within the UFC however severe well being issues sidelined him for greater than a yr. Albazi fought Kai Kara-France in June 2023 with what he later found was an irregular heartbeat. Many scored the combat for Kara-France. Albazi refused to make excuses for his sub-optimal efficiency however admitted he wasn’t absolutely functioning. Albazi discovered he’d require coronary heart surgical procedure after a severe well being scare throughout coaching.
“I felt like I used to be going to die,” Albazi informed CBS Sports activities. “There was no means I ought to’ve been that drained from two minutes of grappling. I checked my heartrate monitor on my telephone and it learn 239 [beats per minute]. I attempted to repair it. I believed there have to be one thing unsuitable with the center charge monitor as a result of I’ve by no means seen such a excessive quantity. I might get it as much as 195 in an intense session. I attempted to carry it down and it would not go down.”
Luckily, Albazi was on the UFC Efficiency Institute in Las Vegas. The medical workers helped decrease his coronary heart charge and he later underwent coronary heart surgical procedure. Albazi recovered and solid forward to enemy territory, making ready to combat Moreno at UFC Combat Night time in Mexico Metropolis on Feb. 24. Six weeks earlier than, Albazi discovered he was coping with a separate well being challenge that almost paralyzed him.
“I could not even bathe. I could not carry my arm over my head,” Albazi stated. “My arm actually stopped working.”
Albazi visited 5 totally different medical doctors, all of whom knowledgeable him he’d require neck surgical procedure or really helpful he cease preventing resulting from a broken spinal twine. Albazi stubbornly refused to drag out of the combat. He discovered his combat was canceled like everybody else, through social media. A UFC physician made the advice and Albazi was swiftly faraway from the cardboard.
“When a physician informed me, ‘Hey, brother to brother, attempt to discover a 9 to five job.’ I sat within the automobile for quarter-hour quietly pondering, ‘Wait a second? I did not come this far to cease now. Is that this it?’ That was onerous going by means of. Even when I knew I used to be persevering with, it was onerous listening to it from a physician. ‘No, I am not going to complete it like this. I can do higher.’ There have been a number of darkish days.”
Take a look at the total interview with Amir Albazi beneath.
The co-main occasion has loads of intrigue tied to it. Girls’s flyweights collide when former strawweight queen Rose Namajunas takes on Erin Blanchfield. Each are hoping to get into the title dialog, however each not too long ago misplaced to potential prime contender Manon Fiorot. A win on Saturday might go a good distance in impressing matchmakers for a possible title eliminator with former champion Alexa Grasso, who’s recent off a three-fight sequence with titleholder Valentina Shevchenko.
“Getting a end on Saturday means every part. That places me proper again within the title image,” Blanchfield informed CBS Sports activities as she hopes to get well from a unanimous choice loss to Fiorot. “It isn’t simply successful, however the way you win. Placing on efficiency places me in an excellent higher spot.”
“Even with efficiency, properly we might cross that bridge when get to it, however I would nonetheless really feel dangerous, for some motive, if I jumped her,” former UFC ladies’s strawweight champion Namajunas informed CBS Sports activities about leapfrogging Fiorot, who beat Namajunas in her flyweight debut. “…In the end the UFC is sort of the choose of that and it is as much as me to have a very good efficiency to make that case.” 聽
One of many featured bouts on Saturday was anticipated to be fan favourite Derrick Lewis taking up relative newcomer Jhonata Diaz at heavyweight. Nevertheless, Lewis was pressured to withdraw from the bout late on Friday night time night time due to a “non-weight lower associated sickness,” in accordance with the promotion. Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Ariane da Silva was moved as much as the principle card for a flyweight contest.
Under is the remainder of the combat card for Saturday, with the newest odds, earlier than we make a prediction and choose the principle occasion.
UFC Combat Night time card, odds
| Favourite | Underdog | Weight class |
|---|---|---|
| Brandon Moreno -175 | Amir Albazi +150 | Flyweight |
| Erin Blanchfield -125 | Rose Namajunas +115 | Girls’s flyweight |
| Caio Machado -155 | Brendson Ribeiro +130 | Mild heavyweight |
| Marc-Andre Barriault -205 | Dustin Stoltzfus +170 | Middleweight |
| Mike Mallott -320 | Trevin Giles +250 | Light-weight |
UFC Combat Night time viewing data
Date: Nov. 2 |聽Begin time: 8 p.m. ET (predominant card)
Location: Rogers Place — Edmonton, Canada
TV channel: ESPN+
Prediction
Brandon Moreno vs. Amir Albazi: Albazi’s coronary heart points tamper with helpful information within the Kara-France combat. Albazi gained a five-round break up choice, however 19 of 21 media members scored the combat for Kara-France, plus 91.5% of fan votes through MMA Choices. That will not change the end result but it surely’s price noting. Albazi anticipates he’ll have a wrestling edge over Moreno however the former champ isn’t any slouch when grappling. Moreno statistically outpaces Albazi in each wrestling class — takedown common, accuracy and protection. Moreno additionally wields higher putting output and accuracy. Pantoja landed six of 11 takedowns on Moreno, so I think Albazi could have some success, however not sufficient. Moreno has higher ending capability in a combat the place each males have five-round endurance. Moreno through Unanimous Resolution
Who wins UFC Combat Night time: Moreno vs. Albazi, and the way precisely does the combat finish?聽Go to SportsLine now to get detailed picks and evaluation from the incomparable skilled who’s up over $1,500 on his UFC main-card picks, and discover out.聽
