UFC 277 Fighter to Watch: Michael Morales
A member of the DWCS Class of '21, Morales returns in search of his second UFC victory this weekend in Dallas
Name: Michael Morales
Nickname: N/A
Record: 13-0 overall; 1-0 UFC
Division: Welterweight
Team: Entram Gym
Opponent: Adam Fugitt (8-2 overall, UFC Debut)
Michael Morales needs to be on your radar.
A member of the Dana Whiteās Contender Series Class of ā21, Morales looked impressive in earning his UFC contract last fall, but really showed why people should be paying attention to him as a significant person of interest in the welterweight division earlier this year at UFC 270. Hereās what I wrote following his debut win over Trevin Giles:
If you werenāt checking for Michael Morales ahead of UFC 270, youāre paying attention now. The 22-year-old made his promotional debut in the opening bout of the main card, navigated some rough waters early, and collected a first-round stoppage victory over UFC veteran Trevin Giles to move his record to 13-0 overall.
A member of the DWCS Class of ā21, Morales looked sharp in the APEX last fall, but was a little awestruck early, getting stung and sat down by Giles early in the fight. But the former middleweight opted to clinch instead of continue throwing hands, which allowed Morales to shake out the cobwebs, and once they got back into space, the Ecuadorian newcomer found his range and found the finish. He clipped Giles with a right hand, and as soon as he recognized āThe Problemā was hurt, he turned up the pace and got him out of there, ending things a couple seconds into the final minute of the first.
This is an excellent victory and a major statement for Morales, who profiled as a strong long-range prospect coming off the Contender Series, but takes a step forward by dispatching Giles in less than a round on Saturday. Heās still super-young and there is no reason at all to rush him into the thick of things in the welterweight division, but continued improvements and further efforts like this will force the UFCās hand.
There are a ton of super-intriguing young talents on the UFC roster right now, and Morales deserves to be included amongst that group.
Watching the fight back as I prepared to write this piece, Iām even more impressed with Moralesā effort because he dealt with even more adversity than I remembered.
Giles sits him down with a right hand early in the fight, and after clinching along the fence for a minute, twists Morales to the canvas with a body lock, immediately landing in position to hunt for a head-and-arm choke, which he starts pursuing. The UFC rookie responds well, Giles gets reversed and put on bottom, and Morales works his way back to feet, but theyāre two tricky moments where other newcomers and other 23-year-olds would have panicked and looked for a way out.
Instead, Morales stayed calmed, worked free, and still finished inside the opening five minutes.
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So what are the key reasons Iām high on Morales and where does he fall in the one-star to five-star scouting report?
Right now, I would say Morales is a four-star prospect for me āĀ someone that I can see, if everything progresses in a best-case scenario fashion, being someone that hovers on the fringes of the Top 10 and has a long, successful career inside the Octagon; think Brad Tavares or Li Jingliang.
Heās raw and sloppy with his striking at times, but he clearly has some pop in his hands, and earned accolades in wrestling in his native Ecuador before departing for Mexico, where he currently trains. Technique can be refined with good coaching, and heās working with a solid outfit headed by Raul Arvizu at Entram Gym in Tijuana.
But what really stands out for me the most right now are the things that cannot be taught.
The 23-year-old is six-feet tall and sports a 79-inch reach, with both of those measurements likely to increase as he continues to fill out and reach his final form. From perusing his Twitter, it looks like heās put on some functional muscle since his last appearance and grown into his frame a little more, both of which will only continue to serve him well as he looks to work forward in the welterweight division.
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There were little moments in the Giles fight that really caught my eye and reinforced my strong feelings about Morales as a prospect.
The first was how he handled himself on the canvas, when Giles, who fought at light heavyweight earlier in his career, dragged him to the mat and attacked the head-and-arm choke.
Now, Giles was in half-guard, which makes it more difficult to finish because you need to have a freakish squeeze, but still: less than two minutes into his UFC debut, Morales had been stung and was now stuck in a submission hold against a guy with a 5-3 record in the UFC and wins at both light heavyweight and middleweight, and the kid never panicked.
He showed his athleticism by basically bucking and rolling to top position, extricated himself from the hold, and then backed out of Gilesā guard, knowing that striking was the better option for him. It wasnāt the most technical escape, but it was effective, and showed a keen sense of the moment and understanding of what he needed to do in that space, which is something you donāt always see from 23-year-olds in their 13th professional fight.
The other came when he was controlling the clinch along the fence, working from double underhooks. Rather than just change levels, Morales quickly elevated Gilesā arms, almost forcing him to shrug, before switching to a body lock lower around the waist, where he looked to slip around to the back. The move caught Daniel Cormierās eye on the broadcast, and when you can do something in the wrestling game that draws compliments and further discussion from DC, youāre doing things right.
As I said earlier, you can teach a fighter how to be more technical, the proper way of doing things, but the patience Morales exhibited and the raw materials he showed in his debut are āyouāve either got it or you donātā pieces that often separate good prospects from great prospects, and he looks like a great prospect at the moment.
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I have to admit that Iām a little bummed out that Morales is facing late-replacement Adam Fugitt this weekend after Ramiz Brahimaj was forced out of the contest, because Brahimaj is an excellent grappler who would have tested Morales in the clinch and on the canvas, in theory, and works with one of the best tacticians in the sport, Sayif Saud, at Fortis MMA, which means we could have gotten a deeper understanding of Moralesā ability to impose his will on a fight and counter a clear game plan.
Fugitt is a 33-year-old pro with an 8-2 record, coming off a 43-second knockout win over Solomon Renfro at LFA 125 in February. Thatās a good win, over a good opponent, for a good promotion, which tells me a little about what to expect from the Eugene, Oregon native, who has won four straight and whose only losses are to familiar names in Kailan Hill and Austin Vanderford.
Heās got the size to match Morales, having fought at middleweight in the past, and heās finished each of his last six wins, which should mean heās coming out swinging, aware that heās playing with house money this weekend.
Itās a good litmus test for Morales and a chance to see how he handles another one of those situations youāre bound to encounter at some point in your career āĀ facing a short-notice opponent āĀ and if he aces this one the way he did his first test against Giles, the room on the bandwagon will start filling up quickly.