Looking for a Star in Mexico City
The UFC travelled to Mexico once again for UFC Fight Night 114 as they continue to try to tap into one of the biggest fighting cultures in the world.
Mexico has been the home to some of the biggest boxers in the history of combat sports and certainly the fan favourites over time.
There is a specific culture in Mexico when it comes to combat sports as there is an attitude to Mexican fighters that people tend to love.
They are unanimously thought of as the toughest fighters in the world even if they sometimes aren’t the most skilled.
They are hard to put away and will get into a scrap with any fighter despite the difference between the skill level.
That makes them fan favourites as they will put on a show in every fight and whether they win or lose the will always win over the fans.
The fighting tradition is mainly held in boxing though and has yet to truly translate to the world of Mixed Martial Arts.
There haven’t really been any major stars that have come out of Mexico, although there are some like Cain Velasquez with Mexican heritage.
No championships in the UFC have ever been captured by someone born in Mexico and there have been few true contenders from Mexico.
The UFC is looking to change that as they have a handful of promising Mexican fighters that are currently rising through the ranks.
Many of those were on the card when the UFC returned to Mexico City as they all looked to get some shine from the feature fights.
The featured Mexican fighter on the night was Brandon Moreno who got his chance at a main event in his home country.
He has been one of the most promising young flyweights in the division running through his first three UFC fights.
Before his chance in the UFC, Moreno ran through local circuits riding an 11-fight win streak into his first UFC main event.
In his three UFC wins, he has ended the fight via submission twice making him a fighter that the UFC wants to see succeed as he makes things interesting.
Like every major prospect, he needed to step up in competition and his first main event in the top promotion was set up to test him.
He was set to take on Sergio Pettis in the main event in what was sure to be the biggest test of Moreno’s career.
Pettis has received a slight boost in his standing due to the pedigree that he has being the brother of Anthony Pettis.
He got his chance likely because of his brother but he has made good on that chance by quickly becoming one of the most promising prospects in the flyweight division.
After starting his UFC career at bantamweight with mixed results, Pettis moved to a lower weight and has started to move up in the rankings.
His first flyweight fight didn’t turn out well for him but he won three straight after that loss and has started to find his way in his lighter weight class.
He headed into enemy territory in a similar situation as Moreno as it was the biggest fight of his flyweight career and a step up in competition.
A win would solidify him as a rising prospect and get him a top-tier fight that could push him into title contention.
The same could be said for Moreno who could have taken a big win and moved closer to that ultimate goal.
Everything started well for the home fighter as Moreno dominated the first round getting the fight to the ground and looking for the submission.
Pettis survived though and avoided the finish living to fight on, which he did well as he began to turn momentum his way.
The rest of the fight slowly began turning towards Pettis and eventually, he took over the fight altogether.
Pettis took the unanimous decision win and continued his rise to the top of the flyweight division.
He hasn’t had the most exciting rise though as this marked his fourth straight decision win and so it might take him some time to move into title contention.
The division isn’t the deepest though and because of that, Pettis may just be on his way to a title shot with a couple more wins.
The Sport Addiction 