Tag: John Moraga

Ex-UFC Title Challenger John Moraga Drops TKO Loss On Canelo vs. Yildirim Undercard

MoragaFormer UFC flyweight title challenger, John Moraga fell to 1-3 as a professional boxer last night — featuring on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez’s successful super middleweight title retention against Avni Yildirim. Moraga, who began his professional boxing career back in 2012, had featured twenty-five times as a professional mixed martial artist — notching a […]

Moraga

Former UFC flyweight title challenger, John Moraga fell to 1-3 as a professional boxer last night — featuring on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez’s successful super middleweight title retention against Avni Yildirim.

Moraga, who began his professional boxing career back in 2012, had featured twenty-five times as a professional mixed martial artist — notching a 19-7 professional résumé. A former flyweight title challenger under the UFC’s banner, Moraga attempted to pry the 125-pound championship from the decorated, Demetrious Johnson back in July of 2013 — dropping a fifth round armbar loss to the Kentucky native.

Kickstarting his boxing career back in October of 2019 — Moraga managed to level his record at 1-1 with a second round knockout win over Brandon Foss. 

In October of last year, the 36-year-old dropped a unanimous decision to world championship silver medalist, Duke Ragan. 

Dropped within the opening seven-seconds by Marc Castro last night, Moraga was eventually finished in the second frame, dropped with a right hand before making a standing nine count. Returning to his feet, Moraga was dropped for a third time with the referee immediately waving off the fight. 

A fourteen-fight Octagon veteran, Moraga established an 8-6 promotional record, besting the likes of Dustin Ortiz, Justin Scoggins, and Magomed Bibulatov. Moraga’s last professional victory came against fellow one-time title chaser, Wilson Reis — before he suffered a second round knockout loss to current flyweight kingpin, Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Fight Night Lincoln back in August of 2018.

A former two-time bantamweight championship on the North American regional circuit, Moraga earned his shot at the previously mentioned recent ONE Championship flyweight Grand Prix victor, Johnson with a pair of stoppage wins in his first two Octagon appearances.

Stopping Ulysses Gomez with an impressive knockout via an elbow and follow strikes in his UFC debut, Moraga then submitted Chris Cariaso with a third round guillotine in August of 2012 — earning him a Submission of the Night honour. 

UFC Lincoln Highlights: Deiveson Figueiredo Stops John Moraga

Tonight marked the first non-title flyweight bout to make it to the main card in 2018, and it featured undefeated Deiveson Figueiredo putting his unbeaten record on the line against former title challenger John Moraga tonight at UFC Lincoln. Deiveson F…

Tonight marked the first non-title flyweight bout to make it to the main card in 2018, and it featured undefeated Deiveson Figueiredo putting his unbeaten record on the line against former title challenger John Moraga tonight at UFC Lincoln. Deiveson Figueiredo entered the bout as the -160 favorite. There was a stalemate at the start […]

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John Moraga vs. Deiveson Figueiredo Set For UFC Lincoln

UFC Lincoln has just gained quite an interesting flyweight match-up. MMA Fighting reports that a 125-pound bout between John Moraga and Deiveson Figueiredo is set for the August 25th Pinnacle Bank Arena event. The show will be headlined by a lightweigh…

UFC Lincoln has just gained quite an interesting flyweight match-up. MMA Fighting reports that a 125-pound bout between John Moraga and Deiveson Figueiredo is set for the August 25th Pinnacle Bank Arena event. The show will be headlined by a lightweight bout between Justin Gaethje and Al Iaquinta. Moraga is on a three fight win streak with his latest […]

The post John Moraga vs. Deiveson Figueiredo Set For UFC Lincoln appeared first on MMA News.

John Moraga on Fighting Career: ‘I Just Made Bad Business Decisions’

John Moraga hopes to nab easy wins to ensure his stock raises and his money increases. Moraga is coming off a crucial first-round knockout victory over Magomed Bibulatov. It was his first finish since Dec. 2014. After losing three straight fights, Moraga has now won two in a row. With his past skid, Moraga had no […]

John Moraga hopes to nab easy wins to ensure his stock raises and his money increases. Moraga is coming off a crucial first-round knockout victory over Magomed Bibulatov. It was his first finish since Dec. 2014. After losing three straight fights, Moraga has now won two in a row. With his past skid, Moraga had no […]

UFC 216 Bonuses: Johnson Banks Extra $50,000 For Submission Of The Year

UFC 216 emanated tonight (Saturday, October 7, 2017) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it delivered several pieces of history and sensational fights. In the co-main event, Demetrious Johnson broke Anderson Silva’s title defense record, posting his eleventh consecutive victory as flyweight king. And he did it in jaw-dropping fashion. After dominating the […]

The post UFC 216 Bonuses: Johnson Banks Extra $50,000 For Submission Of The Year appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

UFC 216 emanated tonight (Saturday, October 7, 2017) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it delivered several pieces of history and sensational fights.

In the co-main event, Demetrious Johnson broke Anderson Silva’s title defense record, posting his eleventh consecutive victory as flyweight king. And he did it in jaw-dropping fashion.

After dominating the fight from the beginning and well ahead on the scorecards in the fifth, Johnson made his move to finish an exhausted and dispirited Borg. After yet another takedown, the challenger worked his way back to his feet but with Johnson clinging to a rear waistlock. Johnson then hit a belly-to-back suplex from which he transitioned to an armbar. In the air.

Borg hadn’t even hit the mat when he found himself hopelessly ensnared in the fight-ending submission. He fought valiantly to escape but was forced to ask out of the fight with only a minute left on the clock. Johnson took home one of the Performance of the Night bonus checks for his efforts.

The other Performance of the Night went to a former challenger of Johnson’s. John Moraga upset the apple cart of the highly-touted Magomed Bibulatov with a crushing first-round knockout. An overhand right stunned the Chechen and opened the door for the finish. After a missed head kick, a missile of a left hook detonated on Bibulatov’s chin. The upstart went stiff immediately, crashing to his back in a heap on the canvas. Moraga banked $50,000 for his efforts, putting a recent three-fight losing streak farther in the rear-view.

The Fight of the Night was a no-brainer. Bobby Green and Lando Vannata put on a war for the ages in the prelims in which both guys were nearly finished and Vannata’s face became a bloody mask.

After dropping and nearly finishing Green with a volley of right hands in round one, Vannata landed an illegal knee to Green’s face as “King” tried to regain his feet. The blow resulted in a point deduction and gave Green a much-needed moment to clear his head. The rest of the bout was nip-and-tuck, with both men landing clean punches upstairs and kicks to the legs and body. Despite his cut and bleeding face, Vannata seemed to be landing the cleaner blows. That changed in the waning moments of the fight

That changed in the waning moments of the fight, when Green rocked Vannata badly as the two threw leather to the finish. “Groovy” Lando was able to stagger to the finish line. That sequence wasn’t enough for Green to steal the fight, but it prevented Vannata from getting the win. The fight ended in a split draw. But both men took home matching $50,000 bonus checks for their efforts.

Keep it locked to LowKick MMA for all your post-fight news and notes for UFC 216.

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Video: John Moraga Scores Thunderous KO At UFC 216

With three losses in his last four fights, not many were giving longtime UFC flyweight much of a shot against undefeated prospect Magomed Bibulatov on the early prelims of tonight’s (Sat., October 7, 2017) UFC 216 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. That included the oddsmakers, who put “Chicano John” as a massive underdog of […]

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With three losses in his last four fights, not many were giving longtime UFC flyweight much of a shot against undefeated prospect Magomed Bibulatov on the early prelims of tonight’s (Sat., October 7, 2017) UFC 216 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

That included the oddsmakers, who put “Chicano John” as a massive underdog of 6-to-1 against the touted Russian. But the former title contender didn’t care about the hype, as the noted grappler used his striking to get the job done for a change.

After landing a big right hand early, Moraga missed with a kick but then countered a Bibulatov uppercut with a picturesque left hook that landed absolutely clean to KO his opponent and put the first mark on his record. Check out the perfect KO from Moraga in slow motion here:

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