In most people’s opinion all the best mixed martial artists in the world reside in the UFC. This may be true when it come to most divisions. Fighters like Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum at Heavyweight. At Light Heavyweight the UFC has titans such as Jon Jones, and Daniel Cormier. The list of top level fighters goes on and on in the UFC; however, the best Bantamweight could possible be found in the World Series Of Fighting. That man is Marlon Moraes.
Last Saturday night, while most MMA fans were watching Andrei Arlovski obliterate Bigfoot Silva’s chin on the internet via UFC Fight Pass, Moraes was putting on a clinic of his own on NBC Sports Network. Moraes, who was originally set to defend his bantamweight championship against Josh Hill before Hill pulled out with an injury, fought featherweight Cody Bollinger in the main event of WSOF 13 in Bethlehem, PA. After dominating Bollinger in round one, Moraes dropped him with a left hook just shy of a minute into round two. After using some ground-and-pound to move into mount, Moraes choked Bollinger out with a side-naked choke.
That’s right. Not a rear-naked choke, but a side-naked choke. Almost impossible to describe, Moraes, from half guard, locked the choke around Bollinger’s long neck. As Bollinger squirmed to escape, it allowed Moraes to pass to full mount. But as Moraes tried to advance from the mount to Bollinger’s back, Bollinger’s right arm kept him from doing so. So Moraes put on the squeeze, Bollinger tapped with the same arm he used to stop the champion’s attempt to improve position, and the side-naked choke was born.
Since joining WSOF in November 2012 for their first fight card, Moraes has looked nothing short of dominate. At WSOF 1 he battered former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres for a split decision victory. At WSOF 2 he knocked out hot prospect Tyson Nam in just under three minutes. After dominating Brandon Hemplemann and Carson Beebe in his next two WSOF outings he earned himself a shot at the promotion’s inaugural bantamweight championship. At WSOF 9 he cruised to title clinching decision win over Josh Rettinghouse. Saturday night was supposed to be his first title defense.
After Hill pulled out former TUF contestant Bollinger stepped in. Famous for missing weight on TUF, Bollinger was in the process of moving up to featherweight. Even though he wouldn’t be able to make the weight for a title fight against Moraes, he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to fight the champion. An initial catchweight of 140 pounds was agreed upon; however, on the day of the weigh-ins Bollinger wasn’t sure he could make 140, and the catchweight was upped to 147 pounds.
Moraes went from a 135 pound title fight to a 147 pound bout in a matter of weeks, and still managed to dominate Bollinger from bell to bell, and improve his WSOF record to 6-0. He is currently on an eight fight winning streak.
While many would consider UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, or the man he dethroned, Renan Barao, to be the best bantamweight fighting today, Marlon Moraes disagrees. He thinks it’s him.
In a post fight interview with Joey Varner Moreaes made it clear. “Man, I beat Cody Bollinger, (and) he was 147 (pounds) I actually fight 135, and I made 140, and man, I think this (proves) that, who’s the best 135’er in the world? That’s me, man. I can beat anybody in the world, man! I’m the best at 135.”
Moraes oozes confidence, charisma, and, most importantly, great skills inside the cage. He trains daily with former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and his renowned boxing coach Mark Henry. For Moraes, his training makes the actual fights easy for him, even if his opponent just happens to be a whole weight class bigger. “It’s much harder to spar Edson Barboza, Frankie Edgar, Akira Corassani and those guys everyday, you know? The fights for me, they are at the gym sparring these guys.”
Marlon Moraes is hitting his stride harder than he hits his opponents thighs with leg kicks. He may very well be the best bantamweight in the world, and he’s not afraid to let you know that he thinks as much.
“Whoever wants to come here, the MMA World Series (of Fighting) cage is open. (WSOF President) Ray Sefo and (WSOF match maker) Ali (Abdelaziz) will give you guys the opportunity to get the belt from me, you know? (But) the belt is mine, and I’m the best in the world.”
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