UFC Fight Night 108's Brandon Moreno prefers the tough fights early on in his career

Brandon Moreno took the flyweight division by storm this past fall, and he hasn’t looked back.

Moreno, a cast member on Season 23 of “The Ultimate Fighter” in its champions tournament format, lost his first fight on the show to Alexandre Pantoja. But in a rarity, he got a shot in the UFC while “TUF 23” still was airing on FS1.

Against Louis Smolka at UFC Fight Night 96 in October, Moreno was unheralded, mostly unknown, and Smolka was as much as a 6-1 favorite. But Moreno went out and stunned him with a first-round guillotine choke, won a $50,000 bonus, and changed his life.

His next time out, Moreno wasn’t overlooked any longer. He was favored against Ryan Benoit at the TUF 23 Finale and took a split decision to move to a quick 2-0 in the UFC.

On Saturday, Moreno (13-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is hoping his progression continues when he meets Dustin Ortiz (16-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 108, which takes place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The main card airs on FS1 following prelims on FS2, including Moreno-Ortiz, and UFC Fight Pass.

“I’m very young. I’m 23 years old right now, but I feel relaxed in my situation,” Moreno told MMAjunkie Radio on Thursday. “I like the hard fights when people put me in bad situations. I feel really happy with this opportunity – three fights in six months. I don’t like easy fights because people talk a lot of (expletive).”

Moreno’s first two UFC wins gave him 10 straight, and seven of those have come by stoppage. The flyweight division has taken notice.

On Saturday, Moreno goes into his fight with Ortiz as the No. 13 fighter in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA flyweight rankings, not typically an easy list to crack only two fights into a UFC career. If he can take out No. 12 Ortiz, it stands to reason he’ll make a small jump up the chart.

Again, he’ll be an underdog. But he believes the several different training camps he’s worked with in recent months will play a factor in helping him grow as a fighter.

“Everything is part of my evolution as a fighter,” he said. “My real camp is in Tijuana, (Mexico), but I try to learn a lot from other people at other camps. I went to Albuquerque, N.M., I went to Arizona, I went to Alliance (in San Diego). And this time, I went to Denver, Colo., at Elevation with coach Duane (Ludwig). I learned so much, and my game right now is really complete.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 108, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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