Outside Source
Following over a year layoff, bantamweight Vince Morales was eager to return to action at UFC 265 against Drako Rodriguez and erase the events on his previous loss to Chris Gutierrez from 2020.
In his unanimous decision win over Rodriguez, Morales made she he didn’t get caught up in previous problems and implemented his strategy as well as he could have hoped.
“For the most part we performed kind of how we had prepped,” Morales told MMAWeekly.com. “We avoided the low kicks, kind of limited those, and kept a good pace and pressure on (Rodriguez), and that’s what we were looking to do.
“I was expecting him to be in my face a little bit more. I wasn’t expecting him to let me take the center of the Octagon as much as I did, but it is what it is. We adjusted to that and started finding range more and more as the fight went on.”
For the most part Morales is happy with the 2021 version of himself and where he sees his game headed.
“After watching the fight I was a lot less frustrated than I was immediately after that fight,” said Morales. “I was really wanting the finish. I was really wanting to get in there and get the guy out of there, but it didn’t happen. I did walk away with the win.
“I think I had been giving a little too much respect to guys in there. just knowing it’s the UFC now and just where everybody’s really good, I think it left me a little timid early in fights, I want to change that and be in people’s faces like the Vince of old. I think this fight was a step in that direction.”
After having to put up with time lost because of the novel coronavirus pandemic and various injuries, Morales is eager to keep the ball rolling and re-establish himself in the UFC bantamweight division and get the kinds of match-ups he’s looking for.
“For the most part it makes me want to just hop right back in there,” Morales said. “I’m hoping I can get another fight by the end of the year. The year layoff was ridiculously long for me… so to be able to get back in there and be able to perform, especially at this level, I’m incredibly happy.
“Of course I have my eyes on the biggest in names in the division like (Sean) O’Malley or a rematch with (Yadong) Song and stuff like that, but I’m fully aware of the position that I’m in where I have to prove myself and show where my career is headed in order to get those fights. So whoever, wherever, I’m ready.”
This article first appeared at News | MMAWeekly.com
Help support MMACrazies.com when you shop Amazon by starting your online Amazon shopping at MMACrazies.com/recommends/amazon. You are not charged extra, but we receive a small and very helpful commission on everything you purchase. Thanks for thinking of us every time you shop at Amazon.
