Ex-champ says Lone'er Kavanagh favored 'for a reason' at UFC 329
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LAS VEGAS – Former champion Brandon Moreno knows a lot about both fighters involved in a key flyweight bout on the main card of UFC 329.
Moreno has fought against Lone'er Kavanagh and Brandon Royval, who meet in the second fight on the main card at T-Mobile Arena. It's an important fight for the division, as the contenders attempt to get one step closer to a title shot. Moreno competed against both recently, meeting Royval (17-9 MMA, 7-5) in February 2024 and Kavanagh (10-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in February.
Although Moreno lost both fights on the scorecards, he learned plenty about what each fighter is capable of inside the octagon. Oddsmakers have Kavanagh set as the favorite to win, and Moreno agrees.
"Obviously, I have a nice insight because I fought against both," Moreno told MMA Junkie and other reporters on the red carpet before the UFC Hall of Fame ceremony. "Obviously, for the side of Brandon Royval, maybe he doesn't have the best moment right now with two losses in a row – the last one, kind of badly against Manel Kape. On the other side, you have a Lone'er Kavanagh, and I think he showed to the world and to the company how professional he is. He went in a short-notice fight against me in Mexico City, and he was ready to rock.
"So, I think Lone'er is the favorite for this fight for a reason. The only thing I can add to the comment is once Brandon Royval has the rhythm and the timing and in the middle of the fight, it's dangerous. He's super dangerous, and it's really hard to stop him. Let's see what happens in the end."
It's not a clear-cut decision for Moreno, though. The former champ sees potential for things to get interesting should Royval make it a gritty fight and really push Kavanagh's cardio, which is something he picked up on in Kavanagh's only career loss, which came against Charles Johnson last August.
"I think something I wasn't able to do against Lone'er Kavanagh was to close the distance to test Lone'er's cardio, but Brandon is really good doing that," Moreno said. "He has really good chin, he knows how to put pressure, maybe test Lone'er's cardio, and see what happens. I think against Charles Johnson, at the end, he tried to put a lot of pressure, and then Charles Johnson came back in the second round. Let's see."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ex-champ says Lone'er Kavanagh favored 'for a reason' at UFC 329