Las Vegas, NV – UFC welterweight Alex Morono came to Las Vegas for a fight, but he did not show up alone.
After Morono defeated Mickey Gall via decision the welterweight dedicated the fight to his father who was sitting in the stands watching his son fight.
“If you look at someone’s mom and dad. My mom is the one who screams ‘Kill him, get him!’ and my dad is just like ‘I just hope you don’t get hurt.’ And he’s the one who got me introduced to MMA, 15-16 years back. I know he was happy I didn’t really get touched up. And I know he was happy to get the win,” Morono said in his post-fight scrum.
Early in the fight it seemed as though Gall had chosen to stand with Morono instead of implementing his high-level Brazilian jiu jitsu game.
“I’ve got to give some props to Mickey too. I had a hunch he would stand and strike as he looked pretty sharp in his last fight. But man I practiced, not as much a lot of like anti-wrestling. I’m happy to take guys down. But I practiced a lot of grappling like a lot.”
Morono said he was actually ready and willing to engage in some grappling with Gall. In training he had actually worked on a lot of offensive grappling but didn’t have to use it vs Gall.
“This is the first time I’ve ever felt it, but I wish I had grappled a bit more in that fight.”
Most fighters say they’re down to fight anytime and anyplace and Morono is certainly one of those fighters. He did have one request however.
“Really whenever and I would say where ever, but I’m not really looking to go out of the country. Not until all the bans or whatever get lifted. But yeah anytime they need me I’m good to rock and roll.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 44 post-fight press conference with Alex Morono above.
