Las Vegas, NV — Having improved to 12-0 with a unanimous decision win over Nikolay Veretennikov on this week’s episode of Dana White’s Contender Series, Michael Morales is now the proud owner of a shiny new UFC contract.
For the Ecuadorian fighter, the win isn’t just for himself — but the country he represents, and the one that took him in when he left home to pursue his MMA career.
“Extremely happy, and as I mentioned before, it’s not just that I’m celebrating. My country is celebrating, and all those in Mexico as well that have taken me in,” Morales said following the fight, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press. “Just very happy to have an opportunity like this.”
The welterweight trains “in a house full of very, very crazy people,” he said when asked about his performance against an unquestionably tough opponent. “It’s not just having confidence in myself, but I have confidence in myself, in Raul [Arvizu] my coach, that I mentioned before, and the people that I train with, against. We have very good coaches, Raul, a very good representative, Brandon Moreno [UFC flyweight champion]. So we are very happy to have representatives [like this], we’re very confident in the work. We put in the work all the time, we’re always working, it’s very technical, and we think that that pays off in the end.”
“Like two weeks, and I can surely be ready to fight,” Morales replied when asked about a timeframe to make his UFC debut. He’ll listen to his coaches when it come to his next date, he add. First, however, “I want to give my mom the pleasure of hugging her son, and I want to say I’m taking small steps towards big things.”
Watch the full Dana White’s Contender Series Season 5, Week 4 post-fight press scrum with Michael Morales above. More coverage from the event can be found below.
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DWCS 5 Week 4 Dana White Scrum
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DWCS 5 Week 4 AJ Dobson Scrum
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DWCS 5 Week 4 Michael Morales Scrum
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DWCS 5 Week 4 Victor Martinez Scrum
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DWCS 5 Week 4 Kleydson Rodrigues Scrum
