Michael Jordan's desire to win at all costs by any means necessary has inspired Brandon Moreno ahead of his trilogy fight against Deiveson Figueiredo

The Mexican, 28, is set to face former flyweight champion and No1-ranked contender Figueiredo, 34, for a third time in the co-main event of UFC 270 in Los Angeles on Saturday night - with the 125lb belt up for grabs. 

Moreno will fight for the first time since he submitted the Brazilian via rear-naked choke in the third round of their rematch in June 2021 for the UFC flyweight title. 

And Moreno has taken inspiration from Jordan's competitive nature and elite mentality as he continues to prepare for Figueiredo. 

Moreno told MMA Fighting: “I need to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of basketball.

“[The sport is] very fun. I like to watch it, I don’t have a team, but I started to learn the history of Michael Jordan from The Last Dance.

“Then I started to investigate a little more about Michael Jordan and my manager Jason [House] told me about the book Winning from Tim Grover, the personal trainer of Michael Jordan.

Brandon Moreno submitted Deiveson Figueiredo in the third round at UFC 263

"I read the book, the ideas about how hard he worked, how he was in his regular life, the obsession to win everything.

"That, to me, was something different - and it was very inspirational to me.”

During the pre-fight build-up, Figueiredo has hurled a torrent of abuse at his bitter rival, accusing him of betraying Henry Cejudo

And Moreno has promised to put a conclusive end to their flyweight rivalry. 

He added: “Figueiredo liked to talk like, ‘This guy is scared of me, he don’t want to give me the trilogy.’

"But man, I was just waiting for the name, literally. The first name the UFC gave me was Figueiredo and I said ‘yes’ in that moment, because I just wanted to fight. 

"At first I was a little surprised. But at the end of the day, the first fight was incredible, second fight was total domination, but maybe the trilogy can be nice to finish the job and put Deiveson Figueiredo in the 135-pound division.

“You know what’s the most sad part? I don’t have any rivalries with anybody. He’s trying to do some [stuff], man, it’s so funny to me.

"At this point, I’m just thinking about the fight. I need to be very sharp - as sharp as the last fight - and I just need to put pressure on him like before.

“Obviously, he’s trying to do something for this one because he needs to do it, but this training camp was so hard and I feel so ready. I could fight him right now. I just need to make the weight, but I’m ready.”

READ MORE: Francis Ngannou claims he accidentally KO'd Ciryl Gane in sparring