Marlon Moraes has officially come full circle in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto confirmed today (Thurs., Sept. 15, 2022) that Moraes is signing with Professional Fighters League (PFL) and will compete in its 2023 Featherweight tournament.
“Guys I wanna announce I’m coming home where I started, I wanna thank the legend Ray Sefo & @PFLMMA get ready for some firework,” Moraes tweeted shortly after the reveal.
Moraes, 34, made a name for himself as a World Series of Fighting (WSOF) original, competing in the very first event in Nov. 2012. Defeating former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) Bantamweight titleholder, Miguel Torres, Moraes went on to win all 11 of his WSOF fights and depart the company after defending the title five times.
The promotion has since rebranded to PFL from WSOF and Moraes now joins Shane Burgos and Thiago Santos as the latest big-name signing preparing for next season.
Moraes’ last fight came earlier this year (March 2022) against Song Yadong, suffering a fourth consecutive knockout loss (watch highlights). The American Top Team (ATT) product announced his retirement from the sport in the Octagon afterward, but that obviously won’t be lasting.
While things ended less than ideally for Moraes in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), he still managed to pick up huge victories over the likes of the current Bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling, and former Featherweight kingpin, Jose Aldo.
The current PFL 2022 season is set to conclude on Nov. 25, 2022, with the championship finals event. No location has been announced as of yet.