Former Champion Continues Comeback Trail Against Fan Favourite at UFC 335

Brandon Moreno will return at UFC 335 when he clashes with Charles Johnson. Both men are fan favourite and always come to fight and this one guarantees fast action and two men who will leave it all in the octagon in Las Vegas on December 12th.

The news was first reported by MMAFighting.

Road to UFC 335

Last time out, Brandon Moreno picked up a vital win against Joseph Morales. Taking place at UFC Noche, the former champion snapped a disappointing two fight losing skid to get back in the win column for the fisrt time since March 2025. Prior to the bout, he dropped a decision loss to Lone'er Kavanagh, which was particularly disappointing for fans of the Mexican as Kavanagh took the fight on short notice. 

Charles Johnson enters UFC 335 full of confidence in what will be his fifth UFC fight of the year. He kicked off 2026 in good form after he finished Kavanagh in 2025. He would lose via TKO to Alex Perez to start 2026, although it’s worth noting that this was a fight in which Perez missed weight.

He would bounce back from this loss with a victory over Bruno Gustavo da Silva but would again drop a fight to Asu Almabayev in Baku. His last outing saw him pick up a submission victory via twister over Eduardo Henrique at UFC 330.

Rankings and Title Shot Implications

This fight is an important one in the flyweight division. At the time of writing, Moreno is ranked #9 and Johnson is #14. With that being said, the title picture is unclear at the moment. We have a clear, deserving champion, Joshua Van. His next challenger will likely be Manel Kape.

After that, no one is a clear contender in the division. Importantly, Johnson holds a knockout victory over the champion and running that one back could be appealing to the UFC. Only time will tell and with no other announcements for UFC 335 yet, if they are as good as this one, we’re in for a treat.