Marlon Moraes Retires From MMA
After a long and exciting career, Marlon Moraes has finally called it.
Moraes was a top 5 UFC Bantamweight for the bulk of his career there and was one of the most feared strikers in MMA. Some of his most notable wins include Jose Aldo, Aljamain Sterling, and Raphael Assuncao.
He began making waves in the World Series of Fighting, where he became the Bantamweight champion and defended his title 5 times. This promotion has been home to famous fighters like Justin Gaethje, Andrei Arlovski, and Anthony Johnson. It later rebranded as The Professional Fighters League (PFL).
He entered the UFC and fought Raphael Assuncao in his debut, making it known that he was on a high level. He'd lose a split decision before beating John Dodson, Aljamain Sterling, Jimmie Rivera, and the submitting Assuncao in their rematch. This all led to a title fight against Henry Cejudo for the vacant Bantamweight championship.
Moraes was the favorite and started strong, making Cejudo look like the underdog he was. However, the longer the fight went on, the more he faded, and Cejudo took over, earning a 3rd-round knockout. Moraes bounced back with a split-decision win over Jose Aldo but went downhill from there. He'd be knocked out in his next seven fights. He stayed competitive in the UFC but ultimately lost to Cory Sanhagen, Rob Font, Merab Dvalishvili, and Song Yadong before being released by the promotion and announcing his retirement.
That was short-lived, as he almost immediately signed with the PFL and entered their Featherweight division. He rematches Sheymon Moraes in his debut, a fighter he'd previously defeated, and was on the way to doing it again before being knocked out in the third round. His next two fights were quick KO losses to Brendan Loughnanne and Gabriel Braga.
Despite not getting the ending fans wanted, Marlon Moraes will always be remembered as one of the most feared strikers to fight in MMA. He continued to fight until he couldn't anymore and told us after the fight that he would encourage anyone else to do the same.
At the end of it all, he said he was happy that he gave fans a show every time he fought.
