Brandon Royval Replaces Amir Albazi Against Brandon Moreno at UFC Mexico City

Editor's note: The article has been updated at 8:40 p.m. ET on Jan. 11 to include a statement from Albazi.

When it comes to the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight division, few fights in the top 10 will be disappointing.

According to the promotion’s broadcast partner of ESPN on Thursday, Amir Albazi (17-1) will no longer be competing in the headliner of UFC Mexico City on Feb. 24. In his place will be Brandon Royval (15-7), who will take on former foe Brandon Moreno (21-7-2) in the Mexico City Arena in Mexico City. Albazi has since posted on social media that he was forced out of the fight due to a neck injury. Moreno and Royval previously faced off in 2020, and Moreno picked up the stoppage win that came with a bit of controversy.

“It’s a different opponent, I don’t know what happened with Amir Albazi,” Moreno remarked to ESPN, “but he’s out of the fight. So now I’m going to fight against Brandon Royval, he fought for the belt in December. And…I’m just ready. In the end, it’s just about the next opponent. I just want the opportunity to fight for the title again, and if UFC say I have to fight one more time before that, I will.”

This will be Moreno’s first non-championship bout since he faced Royval for the first time at UFC 255 in 2020. The Mexican-born combatant became the first fighter from his country to win a belt with the UFC when he tapped Deiveson Figueiredo in 2021. “The Assassin Baby” lost his throne in a rematch to Figueiredo the following year, but went to claim an interim strap by knocking out Kai Kara France a few months later. Moreno completed the tetralogy in early 2023, winning via doctor stoppage. His last appearance came at UFC 290, and he dropped a split decision to Alexandre Pantoja to surrender his title once again.

“Yeah, that fight was 2020,” Moreno replied when reminded that the fight with Royval is a rematch. “It was really a fast, quick fight. Royval had this problem in the shoulder, but I really believe I was winning the fight, so I don’t know. He was saying a lot of different things on social media about our fight in 2020, but in the end, we are going to fight again in front of my people and I’m excited for that.”

Royval is also coming off of a decision loss to Pantoja for the 125-pound crown. That loss snapped a three-fight win streak for the energetic Colorado native, who had won on the scorecards against Rogerio Bontorin, tapped out Matt Schnell and knocked out Matheus Nicolau. “Raw Dawg” sports a career finish rate of 87%, with his decision against Bontorin just one of two in his career—the first came against Charles Johnson in 2018. In their first fight, Moreno came out ahead after Royval suffered an apparent shoulder injury, putting the American away with strikes right before Round 1 ended.

Albazi posted on social media the reason for his withdrawal, apologizing for suffering an injury.

"I'm out of the fight against Moreno [on the] 24th of February," Albazi wrote. "I have been dealing with a serious neck injury the past weeks. After some scans the UFC doctors decided to pull me out of the fight immediately. I want to apologize to the fans and the UFC. I will be back inshallah."

UFC Mexico City, also known as UFC Fight Night 237, will be held at the Mexico City Arena in Mexico City on Feb. 24. The co-headlining attraction will be a five-round affair between Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega. The remainder of the bout order has not yet been set, but fights expected to serve on the main card include a bantamweight tilt between Raul Rosas Jr. and Ricky Turcios, and a lightweight scrap between Claudio Puelles and Fares Ziam.