Brandon Moreno vs. Ray Borg slated for UFC Fight Night 126 in Austin

Next year’s UFC Fight Night 126 event in Texas has its first fight, and it’s an intriguing one.

Officials today announced a fight between young prospect Brandon Moreno (14-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and recent title challenger Ray Borg (11-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC), which is slated for the early-2018 event (via Twitter):

UFC Fight Night 126 takes place Feb. 18 at Frank Erwin Center in Austin. It airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass, though the full fight card and bout order haven’t been finalized.

Borg is No. 5 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA flyweight rankings, and Moreno is No. 8.

Moreno, a 23-year-old Mexican fighter, became a quick fan favorite after storming on the UFC scene with a three-fight winning streak. “The Assassin Baby” picked off some big names – Louis Smolka, Ryan Benoit and Dustin Ortiz – during the stretch, which pushed his overall winning streak to 11 fights. However, in his most recent bout, he suffered a unanimous-decision defeat to fellow contender Sergio Pettis in August’s UFC Fight Night 114 headliner.

Moreno now meets Borg, a 24-year-old who went 5-1 with victories over the likes of Smolka and Jussier Formiga to earn a title shot with champ Demetrious Johnson. However, in UFC 216’s co-headliner in October, “The Tazmexican Devil” suffered a fifth-round submission loss to the champ via dazzling armbar.

Additional UFC Fight Night 126 bouts will be announced in the coming weeks.

For more on UFC Fight Night 126, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.