Exclusive: Moreno opens up on his complex relationship with Figueiredo ahead of historic fourth fight

Brandon Moreno can't help but be a lovely, genuine guy.

Even after four thrilling fights with Deiveson Figueiredo, Moreno is willing to bury the hatchet – even if his opponent can't.

This weekend, Figueiredo and Moreno will make history when they become the first athletes to fight each other four times under the UFC banner.

But when you think back to the majority of the UFC's legendary trilogies, there always tends to be a bitter rivalry between the two combatants.

Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier, Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock, Georges St-Pierre vs Matt Hughes and even Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard.

All great trilogies but with an underlying tension and hatred bubbling beneath the surface.

With this fourth scrap between Moreno and Figgy, though, it's hard to actually gauge whether there's a genuine dislike between the two flyweight champions – despite spending a total of 75 minutes locked inside a cage together.

Well, now Moreno has shed some light on their interesting dynamic.

Despite being such a great guy himself, without a single bad bone in his body, even the Mexican fan favourite admitted he's not the biggest fan of his rival.

"Man, it's hard for to say whether I genuinely like this guy as a person or human being," Moreno told SPORTbible Australia.

"As an athlete, I have a lot of respect for him. He's tough and a real fighter.

"But as a human being, even after three fights, he's still talking s**t about me on social media and in every single interview. He's even tried to lie about me before.

"It's tough to say whether he'd be my friend after this, but I'll always be professional. Even when I beat him, I'll go over and try and shake his hand. If he doesn't want to then that's fine, I completely understand.

"It's funny because we obviously have a lot of history together, although most of our tension is in the cage – not outside of it."

At UFC 282, when those octagon doors slam shut, history will be made as the promotion plays host to its first ever fourth exclusive bout between two fighters.

"This is a very special moment," Moreno said.

"It's a first for there company. Win or lose, I know I'm making history."

"I'm just so excited to finish this, finish this rivalry. Get my hand raised, be the undisputed flyweight champ and continue to build my legacy."

He added: "Next I want the UFC to come to Mexico. Mexico is in a really good position right now to have a pay per view.

"I'm fighting for a title this weekend, next month Yair Rodriguez is fighting for the title too. Even Chito Vera, even though he'd not from Mexico he's Latin American. There's a lot of good fighters from our region on the rise.

"I feel from the bottom of my heart that the UFC is going back to Mexico, for sure."