Rivalries: Marlon Moraes

Marlon Moraes has by now raised his personal alert level to DEFCON 1.

The 33-year-old Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight finds himself in a troubling tailspin ahead of his UFC Fight Night 203 co-feature opposite Yadong Song on March 12 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Moraes enters the cage on a three-fight losing streak and in search of his first win in more than two years. He last competed at UFC 266, where he succumbed to punches from Merab Dvalishvili in the second round of their Sept. 25 pairing.

As Moraes inches ever closer to his high-stakes confrontation with Song, a look at some of the rivalries that have helped shape his career to this point:

Josh Hill

Moraes was a bloody mess, but he came out ahead where it mattered most—on the scorecards—and retained his World Series of Fighting bantamweight championship with a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Canadian in the WSOF 18 headliner on Feb. 12, 2015 at the Edmonton Expo Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 49-46. Hill looked like a legitimate threat to the champion early in their encounter. He exchanged with Moraes in the pocket, staggered him with a clean right uppercut in the first round and left him with substantial damage to his face. Blood leaked from the Brazilian’s nose for more than 20 minutes, staining his white shorts pink. Moraes was not dissuaded. The Ricardo Almeida protege maintained control of the match in the second through fifth rounds. He cornered Hill with effective footwork and tore into the Canadian with kicks to the leg, body and head. Hill’s output dwindled noticeably after the initial five minutes, and a late fifth-round takedown put the finishing touches on Moraes’ victory. They met for a second time a little more than a year later, as Moraes slammed the door on their rematch with a second-round head kick and follow-up punches at WSOF 32.

Raphael Assuncao

The offensively potent Moraes avenged his controversial 2017 decision defeat to the Atlanta-based Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in stunning fashion when he submitted the World Extreme Cagefighting veteran with a mounted guillotine choke in the first round of their UFC Fight Night 144 main event on Feb. 2, 2019 at Centro de Formacao Olimpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil. Assuncao tapped out 3:17 into Round 1, as he was victimized by submission for the first time in more than nine years. “Magic Marlon” hammered Assuncao with a pair of overhand rights—the first one dazed him, the second one floored him—and trailed him to the canvas. Once there, Moraes applied his ground-and-pound, snatched the guillotine and rolled to a mounted position for the finish. It was a stellar performance.

Henry Cejudo

The 2008 Olympic gold medalist became the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s fourth simultaneous two-division titleholder when he took care of Moraes with ground-and-pound and captured the vacant bantamweight belt in the third round of their UFC 238 headliner on June 8, 2019 at the United Center in Chicago. The end came 4:51 into Round 3. Already in possession of the UFC flyweight crown, Cejudo overcame considerable difficulty to reach the 135-pound summit. Moraes obliterated his legs with lightning-quick kicks in the first round but could not break the Fight Ready star’s spirit. Cejudo adjusted his approach between rounds, pressured the former World Series of Fighting champion with punches and hammered him with knee strikes from the collar tie. Ultimately, Moraes’ gas tank failed him. He had little to offer in the third round, where he was met with more close-range knees and became entangled in an anaconda choke that allowed Cejudo to assume top position. Laced with elbows and hammerfists, heavy ground-and-pound followed and led to the stoppage.

Cory Sandhagen

The fast-rising Elevation Fight Team star moved one step closer to a shot at the bantamweight championship when he blew away Moraes with a spinning wheel kick and follow-up punches in the second round of their UFC Fight Night 179 main event on Oct. 10, 2020 at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Moraes bowed out 63 seconds into Round 2. Sandhagen used his height and length to his advantage throughout the first round, where he chopped away at the Brazilian’s legs and body with kicks. His fluid stance switches paid dividends, as well, allowing him to connect with jabs from both hands that led to significant damage near Moraes’ right eye. Sandhagen moved forward roughly a minute into the second round, planted and fired the kick off the side of the former World Series of Fighting champion’s head. Moraes somersaulted backward, at which point he was met with a volley of punches that closed the door.