Top UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Moraes is struggling to find himself a fight at 135-pounds.
After knocking out Jimmie Rivera in the main event of UFC Fight Night 131 in June, Marlon Moraes has been left frustrated that his fellow UFC bantamweights are not stepping up to fight him.
Since dropping a split decision loss to Raphael Assuncao in his UFC debut last year, Moraes (21-5-1) has won three straight fights, including a decision against John Dodson and consecutive knockout wins against Aljamain Sterling and the aforementioned Rivera.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani MMA Show earlier this week, Moraes expressed his disappointment towards the UFC for not being granted a 135-pound title shot after his win over Rivera.
“I had the best fight of my life, biggest fight, main event. Then everybody was talking about a title shot.” Moraes said. “If Cody (Garbrandt) loses, Marlon you’re definitely getting the fight. And I didn’t get it. (Transcription via MMA mania)
“So what to do next? So we talked to UFC and I said, ‘Hey, I want to fight Dominick Cruz.’ It makes sense, he wants to fight for the belt and I want to fight for the belt. And he denied to fight me.”
Cruz hasn’t fought since losing his UFC bantamweight title to Garbrandt in December 2016. It was recently reported that John Lineker, who is two places lower than Moraes in the official UFC rankings, is slated to fight Cruz at UFC 233. Moraes has insisted all he wants to do is fight for the belt, or fight someone who will get him to the belt.
“I told UFC, ‘I’m not playing around,’ I don’t want to fight these crazy fights. I want to fight for the belt.’ I don’t even care about the money much. I want the fight that is going to put me right there. So I thought let’s fight Raphael [Assuncao] and do a rematch. And he denied. He didn’t want to fight me as well.”