Michael Morales announced his arrival as a true welterweight contender on Saturday night, shocking former champion Leon Edwards with a breakthrough victory at UFC 322 inside Madison Square Garden.
In the biggest performance of his young career, the undefeated Ecuadorian showcased composure, power, and championship-caliber poise, signaling that a new threat has officially entered the division’s elite tier.
“Able to be cool, calm, collected. The corner helped me out. I was really nervous. I was sh*tting my pants back in the locker room,” Morales told reporters including Cageside Press through a translator at his post-fight scrum.
“They calmed me down, and I was able to fall into strategy in the fight.”
Morales didn’t shy away from discussing the emotional weight he carries into every fight, acknowledging that the pressure of the moment never truly leaves him. He explained that those nerves aren’t a weakness, but a driving force that keeps him sharp and grounded.
“I’m always like that before the fight. I fight with nerves, I fight with fear, with my heart in my hand. Always been like this because I take it to heart,” he said.
“I always tell people, if you don’t have fear, if you don’t have the nerves, you’re not alive.”
Morales also broke down his mindset when watching the welterweight title fight later in the night, studying Islam Makhachev’s approach and how it aligned with their expectations. He said the game plan they anticipated played out exactly as predicted, and it only fueled his own ambitions moving forward.
“I was going for JDM, but we knew what he was going to do. We knew he was going to be very wrestling-heavy. We knew that he was going to try to receive as less damage as possible, and less hits from JDM,” he said.
“He is a double champion, but that’s not going to stop me.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Michael Morales above.
