METRICS GUIDE
Every stat on this page, explained
All stats are calculated from official fight data. Style scores are Combatrics proprietary ratings updated after every event.
Combatrics Intelligence
AI-powered journalistic analysis · live news & data
A two-time flyweight champion five days past his 33rd birthday against the man who knocked out the fighter currently holding the belt.
Charles Johnson has a line on his record that almost nobody else in the division can claim: in July 2024 he knocked out Joshua Van in the third round. Van has since taken the flyweight title off Alexandre Pantoja over five rounds in September, and he did it after stopping Tatsuro Taira in the fifth in May. The man who beat the champion is being handed to a former champion as a measuring stick, and…
Moreno (23-10-2) is a two-time flyweight champion and the most decorated man in this fight by a distance — his 45.0 quality-of-victory reflects five title bouts across Figueiredo, Kai Kara-France and Pantoja. He is 1-2 across his last three, with a knockout loss to Tatsuro Taira in December 2025 the only stoppage defeat of that run. His 2.50 submission score is the best single attribute on either side, and his first championship came by third-round submission. Turns 33 five days before the fight. Finish rate 41.7 per cent.
Johnson (19-8), 'InnerG', is 35 and carries the best result in the fight: a third-round knockout of Joshua Van in July 2024, before Van won the title. His last five alternate win-loss-win-loss-win, which is why the 95.5 momentum score should be read with care — his raw performance average is 48.2, more than nine points below his 57.5 composite. The Almabayev submission loss in June is the clearest hole in his game, and his 1.11 submission score says it is not a new one. Finish rate 44.4 per cent.
Johnson knocked out Joshua Van in the third round in July 2024; Van has since taken the flyweight title off Pantoja
The common opponent runs against Moreno — Kavanagh beat him over five rounds, and Johnson knocked Kavanagh out in two
Johnson's 57.5 composite against a raw performance average of 48.2, below Moreno's 52.2
Submission scores of 2.50 to 1.11, against a man submitted by Almabayev in June
Scheduled for three rounds — four of Moreno's last five went to a decision, three of them over five
Identical 177.8cm reaches, so Johnson's advantage is height and switch-stance, not length
Two chin ratings of 66.0 and 56.0, with a knockout loss each inside the last twelve months
Moreno turns 33 on 7 December, five days before he fights
Johnson's alternating win-loss pattern means his form offers no reliable signal in either direction
Three rounds compresses Moreno's accumulation game into the shortest window he has had in years
Both chins are vulnerable and both men press forward, so an early finish either way is live
Johnson's August submission win came at catchweight, so its read-across to a flyweight grappler is limited
Moreno is 1-2 in his last three and has not beaten a ranked opponent since Erceg in March 2025
Johnson has not fought since August and is 35; Moreno has the fresher cage time at a better age
Style Fingerprint
Combatrics radar — 6 fighting dimensions scored 0–10