Marlon Moraes On Henry Cejudo Defeat: ‘I Lost Myself A Little Bit’

Marlon Moraes felt he let his bantamweight title fight with Henry Cejudo escape his control.

Moraes and Cejudo fought for the vacant strap in the main event of UFC 238 in Chicago this past weekend (Sat. June 8, 2019). After a dominant first round that saw Moraes chop up the legs of Cejudo and maintain range, things started to turn in the second round onwards.

Cejudo pressured Moraes and connected on him more, with the Brazilian later admitting he lost his energy. In the end, “The Messenger” was able to emerge victorious via TKO in the third round. While he lost his energy, “Magic” also believes he made other mistakes such as not moving more:

“Unfortunately, I allowed the fight to escape my control. I started playing his game, I gassed and that was it,” Moraes said in a recent interview (via Bloody Elbow). “I was very well trained, unfortunately it wasn’t my day.

“But I felt good in the first and second rounds, but he started to pressure me a little more in the third, that’s when I lost myself a little bit, I think I could have moved more, I stopped moving a little and that movement was my defense.”

The defeat put an end to the four-fight winning streak of Moraes, which included three dominant first-round wins over many top contenders, including Aljamain Sterling.

Since that defeat, Sterling has enjoyed a four-fight winning streak of his own, and could be next in line to challenge Cejudo for the bantamweight title.