-
Brett Okamoto
Six months after suffering the first loss of his professional career, English flyweight Lone’er Kavanagh bounced back in spectacular fashion against two-time UFC champion Brandon Moreno on Saturday night.
Kavanagh (10-1) defeated Moreno (23-10-2) via unanimous decision in their five-round main event at UFC Fight Night in Mexico City. The 26-year-old earned judges’ scores of 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 in a relatively dominant performance.
Moreno occasionally had success holding Kavanagh against the fence, but struggled to generate any consistent offense. Kavanagh hurt Moreno multiple times on the feet, especially in the early rounds.
It was an incredible statement by Kavanagh, who suffered a knockout loss to Charles Johnson in an upset in August. He took Saturday’s main event on short notice after Moreno’s original opponent, Asu Almabayev, withdrew due to injury. Kavanagh was initially scheduled to fight on March 14 in Las Vegas, but jumped at the chance to fight Moreno in his home country of Mexico. He went into Saturday a significant betting underdog.
«These are the moments I live for, legendary moments,» Kavanagh said. «This is a legendary moment. Brandon is a legend, two-time champion. I’m a big fan. I watched him as a kid. To get to fight him is amazing.»
Moreno, 32, looked out of sorts from the opening round. Kavanagh dictated range from the very first exchanges and opened a small cut over Moreno’s left eye. He hobbled Moreno with leg kicks throughout the first three rounds, which led Moreno to turn to a grappling-heavy approach in the second half of the fight. Kavanagh struggled a bit to keep Moreno off him against the fence but defended all eight of the former champion’s takedown attempts.
Ahead of the fifth round, Kavanagh’s corner told him he was dominating the judges’ scorecards. Although he technically ended up winning only three rounds to Moreno’s two on the majority of scorecards, Kavanagh’s victory felt more convincing. Moreno’s face was bloodied at the end of the bout, and he was limping badly from the second round on.
Kavanagh improved to 3-1 in the UFC. He is part of a talented young core of athletes in the flyweight division, including 24-year-old champion Joshua Van and 26-year-old No. 1 contender Tatsuro Taira. Moreno, meanwhile, falls to 0-2 in his last two appearances and 2-4 in his last six.
