Brandon Moreno isn’t sure how one judge gave the fight to Joseph Morales but he still walked away with the split decision in in the Noche UFC co-main event on Saturday.
Following a disappointing two-fight skid, Moreno had a lot to prove and he showed he’s still an elite flyweight with blistering speed in his hands and slick grappling game that can give anybody problems. When the fight was over the judges scored the fight 30-27 twice for Moreno with the third official going 29-28 for Morales.
It was still enough to get the job done for Moreno as he was immediately in celebration mode with the win.
“That’s kind of weird but at the end, I won,” Moreno said about the split decision. “I’m going to celebrate with my people. Viva Mexico! I’m super happy.”
Moreno wasted no time showing off his boxing combinations including a nasty left hook that clipped Morales as the flyweights were exchanging blows. Morales didn’t panic and instead reset and he connected with a slick combination of his own.
Both fighters were throwing caution to the wind on the feet with some really hard shots landing clean including Morales connecting on several stiff left hands. Moreno was happy to fire back but Morales wasn’t backing down as both flyweights were dropping bombs.
Moreno was welcoming a slugfest and he caught Morales with a hard left hand during one of the wild exchanges. But Morales came firing back with a right hand that snapped Moreno’s head back and he stumbled backwards in the octagon.
Morales opened the final round with a takedown attempt but Moreno was more than ready as he engineered a slick reversal before resetting in the middle of the octagon. Moreno showed he still had some power in the hands after popping Morales with a good shot against the cage before he latched ono another well-timed takedown.
Moreno maintained that control until the final horn sounded to end the fight.
Always a serious player at 125 pounds, Moreno got the much needed win and now he’ll look to jump back into the deep end of the top 10 rankings following his victory at Noche UFC.
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