Vince Morales‘ first run in the UFC was full of bangers. Toe-to-toe wars with Chris Gutirrez, Jonathan Martinez and Song Yadong – not to mention a win over Aiemann Zahabi – made him must-watch TV. However, a 3-5 record in the stint had the UFC thinking differently. After eight exciting fights, he was given his walking papers.
“I was heartbroken. I was I was at the P.I. when I got the call. I was just about to start a workout and then and then I got the call,” Morales recalled. “And I was like, well, I’m getting the hell out of here. So I left the P.I. and went and whined about it to the wife a little bit.”
But after moping for some time, he got a call from his coach. The no-nonsense Syndicate MMA coach got right to the point, and Morales knew what he needed to do.
“All of a sudden, Coach [John] Wood called me and he’s like, ‘what’s the plan?’ I’m like, well, and the goals haven’t really changed. Just maybe where I’m doing them. I’m still trying to fight good people. I’m still trying to prove myself and still trying to make some money,” he said. “At the end of the day, I kept saying that if I get back in the UFC, great, because it’s going to be it’s going to be because I’m doing the right things. I just started doing the right things and wanting to fight and wanting to keep making more of my career.”
That time away from the UFC was important for him as he realized what tipped the scales against him in some of those UFC fights. That allowed him to take the steps to correct it.
“I wasn’t leaving parts out out there, leaving parts of me out there to really show who I am,” Morales explained. “I think that’s I think that’s why some of the outcomes went the way they did. So that’s one thing I did being out of the UFC.”
After leaving himself out there in all of his fights, he saw a marked improvement. He started hitting submissions at a crazt rate including one he’d like to name himself. At UFL 5 he faced fellow UFC veteran Hunter Azure. In the third round, he hit a modified version of the Peruvian necktie that makes use of the shin bone instead of the calf muscle.
“At the gym, we call that necktie the Vincuvian necktie. We started it as a joke. I just kept hitting it and we decided to run with it” he said. “So I’m still trying to coin that because I haven’t seen anybody in any competition anywhere hit it.”
That submission would earn him a short notice call back to the show. Now with that fight in his rear view, he’s looking forward to his first full camp back in the UFC. His chance to show the new and improved Morales will take place at UFC Vegas 102 this Saturday. That fight is part of the ESPN+ prelims that start at 4pm EST.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 2:00.
