Moraes Trashes Aldo For Cejudo Callout

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

UFC bantamweight contender, Marlon Moraes, defeated Jose Aldo at the UFC 245 pay-per-view (PPV) event last month in Las Vegas, and can’t understand how that victory got “Junior” into the conversation about the 135-pound title hunt.

It was a close fight, but a loss is still a loss.

“Right now, I have no respect for this guy,” Moraes told MMA Fighting. “Zero respect, not for him, not for his team, for how they are acting. At the fight, Aldo took the microphone, he says I want to congratulate you, no big drama. But he goes home and he sees what Henry (Cejudo) says and he changes literally from 0 to 100. From blue to red. Like ‘I won the fight, Marlon was scared, I see his face.’”

Cejudo, who beat Moraes for the 135-pound strap, went on social media to lobby for a fight against Aldo, then anointed himself the “King of Rio.” Not surprisingly, the Brazilian took exception to that callout and went forward with his own championship campaign.

“Petr Yan, (Cory) Sandhagen, (Aljamain) Sterling, they are on a good streak now,” Moraes said. “They’ve got victories. They do deserve. Aldo does not deserve [a title shot]. That’s a pussy move what he’s doing. ‘Oh I want to fight you, I want to beat you’ — you just lost. How can you call the shots? You did not beat nobody. You just lost two fights in a row.”

Aldo, 33, dropped down from the featherweight division after losing a decision to Alexander Volkanovski. After a startling physical transformation, “Junior” made his bantamweight debut with an impressive performance against Moraes.

Just not impressive enough to sway the judges in “Sin City.”