Tag: Marlon Moraes

Marlon Moraes Tells Dillashaw To Defend Or Vacate

Marlon Moraes wants his title shot immediately.

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Marlon Moraes wants TJ Dillashaw to defend or vacate.

Current UFC bantamweight champ Dillashaw comes fresh off a successful 135-pound title defense. He knocked out rival Cody Garbrandt in the first round of their UFC 227 main event meeting in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Prior to that bout, former Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo dethroned Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson from the 125-pound throne. Cejudo subsequently called out the winner of Dillashaw vs. Garbrandt for a superfight.

Dillashaw has since expressed interest in fighting Cejudo if the opportunity presents itself. This is something that has upset No. 4-ranked bantamweight Marlon Moraes. The Brazilian is on a three-fight winning streak since November.

His last two wins have come by way of knockout early in the first round. Moraes’ last outing really impressed the mixed martial arts (MMA) community. He handed Jimmie Rivera his first defeat in nearly a decade with a 33-second head kick knockout.

Moraes feels as though a bantamweight title shot is warranted after his recent run. Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show recently, Moraes said he feels as though Dillashaw and coach Duane Ludwig are ducking him (quotes via MMA Mania):

“Yes man, 100-percent,” Moraes said. “But the situation now is kind of getting crazy becasue Dillashaw and Duane Ludwig, they are calling the shots now. They want to match me up with Dominick Cruz, other guys. Why, man? Stop matching me up and just fight me.”

With that being said, Moraes isn’t opposed to fighting a Dominick Cruz instead of Dillashaw. But if the 135-pound champ wants to drop down and fight Henry Cejudo, Moraes wants Dillashaw to vacate the title. This would allow him and Cruz to fight for the 135-pound crown:

“I feel like he (Cruz) had a long layoff. I agree with him, he is one of the best ever. But we got to see how he is now. Make a comeback, fight somebody else to see where he’s at,” he said.

“If T.J. goes down and vacates the belt, I would be more than welcome to that opportunity. It’s going to be an honor for me to fight such a great fighter like Dominick Cruz.

“I saw last week he said guys don’t talk about him, but I always talk about him. He is one of the best and I always look up to him,” he added. “The day I have to fight him, I am going to be down for it.”

Moraes continued on to assert his belief he deserves the title shot:

“I have no idea what UFC wants, but I am going to be down and I won’t say no. I just think I deserve the chance and I deserve to fight this guy. If he wants to be the best he has to fights the best and I think I’m at the top now,” he said.

“I’m waiting man, I am waiting for the opportunity. They know I’m down for fights and I want to fight. I want to work and I want to fight for the title. Let’ see if they can put all that together.”

Finally, Moraes said he would fight former champion Dominick Cruz if Dillashaw didn’t want to defend the belt:

“I think so, especially now that T.J. wants to do anything but not defend the belt. I want to fight, Dominick said he wants to fight. If he (Dillashaw) don’t want to fight, vacate and let us fight.”

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Marlon Moraes: Fans Want me to Fight For UFC Bantamweight Title

Marlon Moraes believes he’ll be next in line for a shot at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight title. Earlier this month, Moraes took on Jimmie Rivera in a potential title eliminator. The bout took place inside the Adirondack Ba…

Marlon Moraes believes he’ll be next in line for a shot at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight title. Earlier this month, Moraes took on Jimmie Rivera in a potential title eliminator. The bout took place inside the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, New York. It served as UFC Utica’s main event. It only took Moraes 33 seconds […]

The post Marlon Moraes: Fans Want me to Fight For UFC Bantamweight Title appeared first on MMA News.

Dominick Cruz Hopes to Return Before End of 2018

Former UFC bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz, is hoping to return to the octagon before the year concludes. Cruz, 33, has not fought since UFC 207 (December 30, 2016), where he was defeated by Cody Garbrandt in a contest for the UFC’s 135-poun…

Former UFC bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz, is hoping to return to the octagon before the year concludes. Cruz, 33, has not fought since UFC 207 (December 30, 2016), where he was defeated by Cody Garbrandt in a contest for the UFC’s 135-pound championship. The veteran was expected to face Jimmie Rivera at UFC 219, however, […]

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Jimmie Rivera’s Next Fight Targeted Against Former Title Contender

Jimmie Rivera is looking to make a quick turnaround.

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It appears that Jimmie Rivera is looking to make a quick turnaround.

As seen in the main event of UFC Utica event that aired on FOX Sports 1 at Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, New York, former WSOF champion Marlon Moraes was able to finish Rivera by strikes after landing a huge head kick to win the bantamweight headliner.

This marked Rivera’s first loss since November of 2008 and now holds a pro-MMA record of 21-2. Coming into this headliner, he was on a 20 fight winning streak, but that has been snapped

According to a report by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the UFC is interested in booking Rivera against former title contender John Dodson for a bout that would take place this September.

It would likely be for a Fight Night event. It should be noted that the promotion has yet to officially announce this fight. Okamoto wrote the following on his official Twitter account:

“UFC bantamweight Jimmie Rivera is looking for a quick turnaround after last Friday’s 33-second loss to Marlon Moraes (his first L in 21 fights), according to sources. UFC is interested in pairing him with John Dodson in September. Nothing official yet, but it’s being discussed.”

Coming into this fight, Rivera went on record by saying that the UFC asked him to fight Moraes in February or March, but that didn’t line up well for him.

Rivera also stated that he’d be surprised if he doesn’t fight for the belt if he won this fight due to the fact that he thinks the title picture is clear enough to figure out.

Obviously, that won’t happen now as he will work his way back and pick up a few more wins before getting back in the title picture.

Dodson recently signed a deal with the UFC following a test as a free agent. Despite wanting to try out the waters from other promotions, he decided to stay with the promotion.

Dodson is 3-2 in his last five outings with wins over Manvel Gamburyan, Eddie Wineland, and Pedro Munhoz. He lost to John Lineker and Moraes in that span.

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UFC Utica Draws Second-Lowest UFC Ratings Ever

UFC Utica numbers are in, and they’re atrocious:

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Last weekend’s (Fri., June 1, 2018) UFC Fight Night 131 from the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, New York, was a box office flop if there ever was one.

Featuring a pivotal bantamweight main event between Marlon Moraes and Jimmie Rivera and little else, one of the UFC’s rare Friday night shows paid for its weak lineup with dismal ratings that were so low they are legitimately record-setting.

According to MMA Fighting’s Dave Meltzer, the event averaged a paltry 512,000 viewers, which, if confirmed, would make it the second-lowest viewed UFC card of all-time behind only last December’s The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 26 Finale featuring the inaugural women’s flyweight title fight between Nicco Montano and Roxanne Modafferi.

What made matters worse is the fact that UFC Utica had little competition in the way of mainstream sports, but its Friday night slot, where UFC competitor Bellator has drawn continuously struggling ratings as well, should be the main culprit to blame.

By comparison, the record low for a Saturday night-aired UFC show came in May 2014 where Stipe Miocic battered Fabio Maldonado in Brazil. The event averaged 609,000 viewers.

The strange and concerning circumstances continued when it was also revealed that the show peaked at 593,000 viewers for the first main card bout between Sam Alvey and Gian Villante, because while it’s not unusual for a card that lasts until 1 a.m EST to peak before the main event, it usually doesn’t happen during a fight featuring lesser-known personalities like Alvey and Villante.

The preliminary card for UFC Utica averaged 322,000 viewers, the lowest-ever numbers for a primetime UFC prelim card aired on FOX Sports 1.

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Marlon Moraes Claims Jimmie Rivera’s Family Tried To Spit At Him

Not a good look for Jimmie Rivera’s camp:

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There was a bit of a scuffle between the camps of both fighters in the aftermath of Marlon Moraes’ 33-second knockout of Jimmie Rivera at last week’s (Fri., June 1, 2018) UFC Fight Night 131 from the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, New York.

Details of the dust-up were scarce, but Moraes himself described the situation during an interview on The MMA Hour (via MMA Mania) today. According to him, his manager Ali Abdelaziz was attempting to calm the situation by shaking Rivera and his wife’s hand, but Rivera’s coach, karate champion Tiger Schulmann, escalated the scene by allegedly trying to start a brawl:

“My manager Ali, he’s trying to apologize and everything’s done. We fought already, that’s it’s the sport, peace. He was trying to shake Jimmie’s hand, Jimmie’s wife hand, it was all a big misunderstanding because Ali never said anything bad to his wife, he thought so. Even Jimmie understand. So Ali is talking to them and his (Jimmie’s) coach comes in, his name is Tiger or…I don’t even know his name. He comes in and tries to be a tough man to Ali and maybe start a fight.”

Abdelaziz is a longtime judoka who is in his 40s, but Moraes said he would have no problem dispatching Schulmann because he’s felt his punches in sparring:

“Man this guy is in his 50, Ali is in 40’s and Ali gives tough time to fighters. He could kill that guy and I am glad they didn’t fight. It got close. I’m glad Ali didn’t hit him, he’s got heavy hands and I know because he’s punched me before. He’s a fighter. We spar together. Everything got settled, they left and security come in. Thanks to God.”

But the rising Brazilian contender didn’t want to make it seem like Rivera was involved in the confrontation, as he was apparently trying to calm the beef. His family was a different story, though, and reportedly tried to spit on Moraes when he said hello to them. UFC security soon intervened, and Moraes wasn’t going to focus on bad blood, instead choosing to go back to the hotel and celebrate with his team:

“Jimmie was trying to stop his coach, his coach was the mad man. His family was a little upset, too. I tried to say hello and they want to kill me a little bit, they tried to spit at me a little bit,” said Marlon. “But that’s okay, bro. UFC security is the best. After that, we went to the hotel and ate pizza and it’s all celebration. It’s done and I want to look forward to the next challenge.”

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